Gezicht op Dinant langs de Maas met de citadel c. 1860 - 1890

Jules Hallez captured Dinant along the Meuse with its citadel in this photograph. The church steeple commands our attention, piercing the sky like a terrestrial spire aspiring to divine heights. The steeple is a symbol that echoes through history, a motif connecting the earthly and the celestial. This shape—reminiscent of obelisks and minarets from distant lands and times—evokes mankind’s eternal aspiration to transcendence. It reminds us of the Tower of Babel, a tale of ambition and the divine, but also of human connection with something beyond the earthly realm. In our collective memory, this reaching for the heavens is more than architectural; it’s a deeply rooted psychological impulse, a yearning for the sublime. The steeple's silhouette stirs something within us, a powerful force engaging viewers on a deep, subconscious level. Thus, the steeple, in its non-linear journey through time, continues to evolve, resurfacing in different contexts, constantly reshaped by human experience and aspiration.