I see this on a lot of buildings in Belgium. How are they called? Are they purely decorative or are they structural?
I see this on a lot of buildings in Belgium. How are they called? Are they purely decorative or are they structural?
13 comments
Some are structural, and some may be only decoration. Not sure what they are called.
These are ties. They are attached to internal beams which hold the outside walls together and stop the house falling apart. Can be a sign of subsidence.
It’s just to make Ezio Auditore Da Firenze to climb those buildings easier
In older buildings they are structural and (mostly) tie the wooden floor beams to the outer walls to give more rigidity.
In many renovations where floors are replaced or in newer buildings they no longer have a function but are placed for decoration. It is the same in my home; they were attached to the original beams but when we replaced them by concreter we left the anchors as they look nice on the house.
These are structural, definitely the third pic is. But I think the rest is structural too.
In Dutch they are called “muurankers”, literally “wall anchors” as they anchor the walls to the internal parts of the building. So they are definitely structural.
They’re called “muuranker” in dutch.
Thanks guys! Tried to get an answer from chatgpt but looks like de collective wit of redditors is wiser than any AI.
Not typically belgian. Not art, they hold the house and the beams together
Muuranker… they are connected witg a metal rod in the back, sometimes the rod goes through the building or its conndcted to the wooden beams from the roof, its not decoration but a necessary part of your construction…
They are wall anchors, their origin is structural but they have an important cultural role. Historically they were deeply engrained in superstitions and smiths would sell certain patterns to wear off all kinds of evil on the house, as well as sometimes used to indicate religious profession (protestant vs catholic for example). Here’s a [bit of a shitty source (hobby website)](https://sites.google.com/site/tekensvanbijgeloof/metaal-in-gevels/muurankers/tekens-op-ankers) but if you ask your local library or heemkundige kring they’ll likely have an inventory of those in your region with their explanation
Only knew ornemental one. Some refer to the date of construction or even what kind of building or craftsman worshop it was.
This might be a stupid question, but Im renting an recently a part of the anchor has broken due to rust And fallen; does this mean it needs replacing asap? Is there any danger i need to be aware of?