After a year in Belgium, I finally got used to the little differences. I loved my town of Leuven and I really appreciated the multicultural environment. I accepted what I encountered as quirks such as avoiding eye contact on the street, eating room temperature sugared popcorn at the movies, and seeing frequent random parades on the street with as few as 4-5 participants. I generally chalked these experiences up to the charm of living abroad. And then I saw a 6-ft beetle get impaled on a 75-ft high spike. That threw me.
The giant beetle was impaled in front of the library in one of the most beautiful plazas in the city. The library itself is gorgeous too. It was bombed and rebuilt during both world wars and is everything you’d hope to see in a medieval-style city. In typical Belgian fashion, the beetle was raised without a plaque that provided an explanation. The surreal element imposed on one of my favorite old-world spots really bothered me until I finally got some information. Apparently, the artist chose the beetle out of respect for the library. Something about how the DNA of this critter housed all the information and components of everything alive. So, the intended effect is to respect knowledge and appreciate the parallel houses of information.
Or, it’s just a giant impaled beetle. I choose to believe the dual library thing though. It makes me happier.
Think I’m full of it? See here.