Entrance Hertberg

“Herselt has five large forest areas. Hertberg is the best known and most accessible. It is the largest green domain in our province,” says Evi. Elsschot often took long walks through the forests of Herselt. The peace and greenery stood in stark contrast to the vibrant Antwerp, where Elsschot blossomed as a poet, Flemish nationalist, and bohemian in his teenage years.

Here he found himself in a completely different world. Blauberg was, in Elsschot's youth, a village without electricity, where the pastor was in charge. Thanks to intense study retreats in Blauberg, far away from the festive atmosphere of Antwerp, Elsschot obtained a diploma in commercial sciences in 1904. He worked in the advertising and marketing world, wandered through Paris and Rotterdam, and set up his own advertising agency in Antwerp after World War I.

GVA - Gazet van Antwerpen