Flemish relics; architectural, legendary, and pictorial, as connected with public buildings in Belgium 1866

This book, "Flemish Relics," was compiled by Frederic George Stephens and published in London in 1866. It reflects a 19th-century fascination with the medieval past, particularly its architectural and legendary aspects. The book’s focus on public buildings in Belgium is telling. It suggests an interest in how civic identity is constructed and maintained through monumental architecture and the stories that attach to them. Victorian Britain, like Belgium, was grappling with questions of national identity and the role of public institutions in shaping it. The illustrations in this book, created through a combination of photography and engraving, would have offered British readers a glimpse into the built environment of another European nation. This was a time when the mass media of photography and print could be used to facilitate cultural exchange. To fully understand this book, scholars might consider researching the social and political contexts in both Britain and Belgium, examining architectural treatises, and looking at guidebooks and other publications that circulated at the time. The meaning of this book is inseparable from these social and institutional contexts.