The beguinages of Flanders and the Netherlands are always oases of calm and stillness, where you might still expect to see an old beguine mumbling her prayers in a doorway. Two of Ghent’s three beguinages have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Although the Old St Elizabeth Beguinage, in Begijnhofdries in Ghent, is no longer enclosed by a wall, making it simply part of the city, it still has a unique atmosphere. Today the Old St Elizabeth Beguinage is known as ‘holy corner’, a place of religious tolerance, because it has no less than three different churches: one is Roman Catholic, one is Orthodox and the other is Protestant. From bleachfield to orchard This open beguinage grew into something of a ‘beguine city’ in the 13th century, with a church, the ‘Grootjuffer’s House’, an infirmary, a chapel, more than a hundred houses for beguines, a bleachfield (a field where linen was laid out to bleach) and an orchard. After the French Revolution, with increasing industrialisation, the inhabitants moved to their new beguinage in Sint-Amandsberg in 1873.

The courthouse takes one on a journey through the history of St. Louis, Missouri and the United States. A number of cases tried here eventually led to events that changed the course of American and world history, most notably the Dred Scott case, which ruled that slaves and their descendants were not protected by the US Constitution -- this later fuelled abolishing slavery altogether.

The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo comes with everything a comic fan would need: scheduled autograph and photo sessions with international authors, Q&A panels with your favorite artists, over 700 retailers with articles and gadgets on sale, as well as cosplay contests that bring fictional characters to life.