The streets of Doel are empty. This little town in the north of Belgium is the textbook definition of a ghost town. Abandoned. Forsaken. Neglected.
Wandering its deserted streets is like time-travelling in the past, present, and – I didn’t know it at the time – future, all at once. Almost like an intruder, I am peaking into the remnants of a life that once was. The streets, signs, and houses are all real, the stories of the inhabitants long gone, eager to burst through the silence.
The Ghost of Doel Past
But what was there before it was all reduced to a suffocating stillness? Travelling all the way back to the 13th century, you would find a small, quiet town on the banks on Schelde river. Throughout the years, the land on which the village resides has been flooded, as if warning its future residents on the fate awaiting centuries ahead. Then, the 17th century came victorious when the village emerged (yes, literally) from the water.
And so it flourished, despite all adversities. It is no surprise that its stone windmill still stands tall today. Dating back to the 1611, it is the oldest windmill in Belgium, and the only one on a sea wall. From atop the bank, one can still witness it facing the sea winds. Old and alone, it encapsulates the sheer spirit of Doel – not backing down.
The small town lived a peaceful, unbothered existence for the next few hundreds of years. That is until 1970. With the development of the Antwerp port, the town was set to be evicted and demolished. As powerful as their stone windmill, the inhabitants fought and won. Sadly, it was only a battle, and not the war…
The authorities came back with a vengeance in 1990. The Port of Antwerp had to receive two new container terminals and Doel had to go. Following an initial pushback, the villagers slowly started selling their homes, many of them ancestral farmhouses, and moving away. And so the living part of Doel started to decay… from a record number of 2511 people in 1876, the numbers dropped to 300 in 2005 and 20-something today.
Suddenly, front doors were closed for one last time, the streets carried the steps out of the town with no return ticket and the neighbourly banter died down.
The Ghost of Doel Present
“This used to be someone’s home…” I tell myself, a feeling of trespassing quietly creeping in.
Imagine your daily commute. Or the short walk to your best friend’s house. Usual hangout spots? Ten years from now, they’re all deserted. All the memories you made, good and bad, are hidden away, never to see the light of day again. A place is only as good as its people. Otherwise, it’s just cold concrete.
As I reach a cross-roads, I choose to go towards the dike. Am I following in someone else’s footsteps? How many people have taken the exact same route on their afternoon walk? Did they wave at their neighbours living in the now bright green house as they passed by? Who lived in that corner house? Who were their friends? I want to know it all, the stories, the relationships, the drama… Instead, I am met with a cold, deafening silence.
There’s no one here to tell the story, and the memories will soon fade away. The people have moved on to another place to make new memories. Do they think fondly of their Doel, now seemingly left to die?
And as a handful of inhabitants defy what seemed like a sure-fire doom, in true Doel-esque spirit, the town itself shifted…
The Ghost of Doel Future
There was no way to let this town rot. As the bleak future was closing in, splashes of colour timidly peeked their hues around the corners. Soon, the spray-painted murals swarmed over the entire town like a vibrant web. With most of the previous residents gone, street artists around the world found a safe haven in Doel. As such, the once flourishing village turned into an open-air museum.
The paintings are as diverse as they come. From houses drenched in hot pink head to toe to intelligible scribbles in every nook and corner. Resistance messages and reimagined cartoons. All the way to abstract creatures and ROA‘s signature black-and-white oversized animals. Everywhere you look, there’s hardly a spot that has been left untouched. With the exception of the still habited houses, of course. Exploring Doel feels like a town-sized Easter egg hunt.
Street art taking over the otherwise post-apocalyptic scenery came as a ray of hope. As such, the Doel2020 campaign was born. Viewing Doel as heritage, both through the centuries-old buildings and the more recent street art, the committee aims to fight the expansion of the Port of Antwerp.
The ongoing fight has been and still is fierce… on one hand, the development of the Port has huge economical implications for the entire country. At the other tip of the scales, the people and past of Doel weigh more as far as culture goes. All Doel can hope for is to last yet another trying fight and emerge glorious, as it always does.
“Doel” means “purpose”, after all.
The 1611 stone windmill with the nuclear power plant looming in the distance…