Cosmos

Cosmos (Rodeberg)

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Dilapidated outdoor swimming pool (2007)

Holiday domain Kosmos was a recreational area on the Rodeberg, near the Belgian village of Westouter. The Kosmos covers an area of 70 543 m² and included a tennis court, football field, outdoor swimming pool, hotel with restaurant and banquet hall and music café, Home Boskant (with 48 rooms) and Home Zeewind (dormitories and multipurpose rooms).

Old main building with restaurant (2008)

The hotel was built in 1934 as a youth hotel. The original complex was relatively small. The hotel was well known in the area and enjoyed a good name. In the 60s to 80s it was a very well-known place for young people, CM camps, youth movements or forest classes.

The original Kosmos building was expanded for the first time in 1965 with a café/restaurant. In 1974 the cafeteria was thoroughly expanded and in 1992 the veranda was added. This building was classified in 2004 asProtected monument[1]. This recognition was a blow to the account of the owner, who had grand plans, which this building did not fit into.

Home Boskant

Boskant, built by Valcke, was completely renovated in 1992, and contains 48 rooms, with sanitary facilities. The building also has an underground games room-fitness room. The gym used to be an underground car park, but was completely converted. A complete playground was set up above the former parking garage. Next to Boskant was a tennis court, which is now completely dilapidated.

Home Sea Breeze

Zeewind (1956) was also built by Valcke. Zeewind has 4 spacious dormitories, 7 rooms, and a sanitary block. In addition to these buildings, there are also several smaller buildings, such as Ponderosa, a small hall. To the right of Zeewind is a small building, which used to serve as a chapel, but this was later used as a warehouse and warehouse.

Swimming pool[edit | edit source text]

Hotel Kosmos was mainly known for its outdoorswimming pool, the only one in the area. The pool was surrounded by forest and was located on the slope of the Rodeberg. The pool was built in the 60s and after some renovations had three swimming pools, hot tub, two slides, fountains, springboard, cafeteria and sunbathing area. This swimming pool was well known in the area and well visited.

This pool was also the manslaughter for the complex. In 2002, the swimming pool's licence was revoked, due to storage problems and "not accessible to emergency services". The beautiful location of the pool meant that it would eventually have to be closed. This closure was fatal for the hotel. The number of overnight stays decreased and in 2005 the manager put down the books.

The pool has completely disappeared and now forms an earth plain on the mountainside.

The beginning of the end[edit | edit source text]

In May 1994, NV Vakantiedorp Kosmos and NV Rodeberg went bankrupt. [2]

Shortly afterwards, the hotel found a buyer in Geert Hardeman. [3] He and NV Roberg said he pumped in more than 1 million euros to renovate the eighty-year-old complex and restore it to its former glory. Those plans kept dragging on, and the main reason was the main building. That building (1934) is a protected monument and may not simply be rebuilt or renovated. However, they had grand plans to renew the old complex. New apartments would be built, studios... The swimming pool would be covered and the sanitary facilities and chalets would be expanded.

Outdoor swimming pool Kosmos (2008)

The hotel had not paid invoices for some time[4], resulting in a debt of 3.65 million euros.

Since 2005, the complex has been left to its own devices. The building has been squatted several times and a lot has been stolen. The police sealed the building in vain. A Bruges man was even arrested, who had been caught stealing a coffee machine. Since then, the curators have decided to store everything of value.

Even after dozens of petitions and discussions, the complex still remained abandoned. The curators tried to sell the complex, but the bids were always too low.

Sales[edit | edit source text]

In mid-2008, it went on a public sale. On the first sitting day, the highest bid was 325,000 euros, the curators thought that more could be gained and organized a second sitting day. On this second sitting day, the entire domain was sold for 1.8 million euros to a Dutchman, who wanted to turn it back into a thriving holiday center.

On July 7, 2008, a fire broke out in the protected tower building in the afternoon. After investigation, it turned out that it was lit. There was at least one source of fire on each floor.

The hotel was eventually sold to Bastiaan De Jeu for approximately 1.8 million euros. A few weeks later it turned out that the "new owner" was a fantasist and had already bought several things, even though he knew he didn't have the money. De Jeu was arrested and suspected of fraud.[5][6].

A new public auction took place on 5 May 2009. The highest bid was 310,000 euros. That was deemed too light by the curator. A second sitting was held on 26 May 2009. The Kosmos was then provisionally allocated for the sum of 500,000 euros to a project developer from Dessel, who wanted to renovate the domain as soon as possible. Until 10 June 2009, another party could make a higher offer. The Vlaamse Land Maatschappij (VLM) had pre-emption rights and eventually became the owner. A petition with 4,000 signatures was handed over to Minister Hilde Crevits for the reopening of the swimming pool.[7][8][9]

Nature reserve[edit | edit source text]

Kosmos Open Air Pool (2009)

Openluchzwembad Kosmos, music video Jan Maessen (2009)

After the sale to the Flemish government in 2009, the demolition of the complex began in 2010. Of the hotel, only the main building has remained because it is heritage. The other buildings and the swimming pool were demolished to become nature reserves again in the future. [10]

With the permission of the Flemish Community, the swimming pool was put into use one more time on 13 August 2009. Film collective Film & Zoonen partially restored the swimming pool and the slide to organize a pool party for the recording of a video clip for a Dutch band. Neighborhood and local politicians responded positively and there were renewed voices for a reopening of the pool. After a visit, the aldermen of culture decided to plead again for preservation, but eventually the swimming pool and the side buildings were demolished and dismantled. However, the search for a commercial partner for the operation turned out to be difficult.[11][12]

See the category Kosmos, Westouter of Wikimedia Commons for media files on this topic.

Sources, notes and/or references

↑ Hotel Kosmos - Heritage Property Sheet

↑ Mild verdict in Kosmos case. Het Laatste Nieuws (18 December 2001). Retrieved 30 April 2020.

↑ Roberg is not Rodeberg. Het Nieuwsblad (11 December 2001). Retrieved 30 April 2020.

↑ Recreation area Kosmos on Rodeberg for sale. De Standaard (17 December 2005). Retrieved 30 April 2020.

↑ Burglaries in Kosmos domain again, from Het Nieuwsblad, 8 October 2008

↑ Scammer gets year in prison, from Het Nieuwsblad, 30 November 2011

↑ Holiday domain Kosmos provisionally sold for 500,000 euros, from Het Nieuwsblad, 27 May 2009

↑ Flemish interest in Kosmosdomein Rodeberg, from Het Nieuwsblad, 20 April 2009

↑ Petition asks for preservation of hotel and swimming pool Kosmos, from Het Nieuwsblad, 9 January 2010

↑ Demolition works Kosmos have started, from Het Nieuwsblad, 21 October 2010

↑ No future yet for hotel-restaurant Kosmos, from Het Nieuwsblad, 13 May 2011

↑ Still no operator for Kosmos, from Het Nieuwsblad, 7 May 2012

Joris Broché