"Diest, friendly town with Orange history " a Diest Travel Page by Pavlik_NL

Diest, on the brink of the flat lands of the "Kempen" and the first slow hills of the "Hageland", is a friendly town with an attractive character for any visitor. Diest has a monumental centre and it's famous "Begijnhof" is UNESCO-world heritage. But walking through town there are many forgotten secrets and you'll find them in the alleys and behind the corners that you normally wouldn't turn. Even in desolate parts of the town one finds beautiful buildings and pictoresk places. Diest is special in many ways and has a rich and turbulent history within that of the Lowlands.

Start a walk in the centre near or on the Marketsquare and work your way round and round through narrow alleys and wide lanes. This way you will see many of Diest's treasures among which the former home of the Orange-family "Oranjehof", the old houses around the Marketsquare and the Saint Sulpice-church, the "Proosdij" (former residence of a local high placed city official), Saint Barbara, Refuge-houses and the beautiful "Begijnhof" (Beguinage).

Except for the 300 years housing the Orange-family among which William of Orange (the Silent), Diest has seen many rulers come and go. Often with disasterous effects to the town and it's inhabitants. Grown out of the early medieval "textile-industry" (especially "laken" = "sheets") it reached already early the 10.000 souls, to loose that amount again and until present days get stuck with only 5.000 to 6.000. War, femine and the plague deminished more then once the population of Diest. With the combination of Diest and surrounding town, now "greater" Diest has more then 20.000 people within it's municipal borders.