Brecht Attractions

The Kempenland town of Brecht lies 18km/11miles northeast of Antwerp, near the Dutch border. The town's grammar school, founded by Jan de Coster (Johannes Custos) in 1515, grew to be a center of humanist learning. Among its notable pupils was the Jesuit Lenaart Leys (Leonardus Lessius), a statue of whom stands beside the church. Brecht was also the birthplace of the great Netherlands Renaissance poet Jan Baptista van der Noot (Jonker Jan), born in 1540.