Former route of the Geraardsbergestraat

The Geraardsbergestraat bends to the south here. But if you look at an aerial photo or a map, you will see that this historic road that was used to go from Geraardsbergen to Brussels has been cut away here by the Ghent-Brussels railway line. You can still see the original route on old maps such as the Ferraris map and the Popp map. This road, and not the Chaussée de Ninove or the E40, was formerly taken to enter Brussels. Those roads are historically very young compared to this stretch here. Although the E40 Brussels coast is the oldest motorway in our country, the oldest parts only date back to the 1930s when construction started. After just under twenty years, it was finished. The Ninoofsesteenweg is slightly older but also no older than the Napoleonic era. This busy road from Brussels to Ninove was built at the beginning of the 19th century, around 1826. On the map of Ferraris (1771-1778) the Ninoofsesteenweg road was not yet signed. But this road does. How old this road is difficult to determine, but certainly from before 1771. If you step here, know that you are at least following in the footsteps of our ancestors from a quarter-millennium ago when people travelled by horse and cart via this road from Geraardsbergen and parts of the Pajottenland to Brussels.

Pascal Brackman