Flanders and the Netherlands both bear the marks and scars of the past. Landscape is more than a historical and cultural creation: we form the landscape every day, and try to mould it to our own requirements in the eternal struggle between nature’s unruliness and man’s urge to civilise. The landscape and space of Flanders and the Netherlands reflect the differences in the history and culture of both countries. Both landscapes, with all their differences, can be read both as cultural geography and cultural history. But history and culture are not an alibi: they do not simply happen – we create them ourselves.
