Gevaert District

Three discoveries in Gevaert District

The beautiful Liedts castle estate was built on the former city fortifications. The eclectic castle in neo-Flemish Renaissance style dates from 1883. It is lovely to amble in the 6-hectare park laid out in a romantic English landscape style, with many winding paths and romantic little bridges. The allotments are also well preserved.

Adjacent is the Gevaert District, a picturesque part of town that has its origins in the thriving 19th-century textile industry. Typical factory houses that rose from the ground like mushrooms still determine the streetscape.

A little further away is Tacambaro Square, named after a place in Mexico. It is Oudenaarde’s open secret. You see a mysterious image of a grieving woman on an everyday square with the unusual name Tacambaro. This piece of tragic history begins in 1864 when Maximilian of Austria, married to Charlotte, daughter of King Leopold I, leaves for Mexico to rule the country as emperor. Volunteer troops are assembled and trained in Oudenaarde, as bodyguards for the imperial couple. That brings a lot of commotion. In the early morning of 11 April 1865, a bloody battle erupts between the troops of the Mexican republicans and the Belgian volunteers in the Mexican town of Tacambaro. The monument on the square was created in memory of the Belgian troops who were defeated.

A second column of remembrance commemorates the victims of the First World War.