The Princess Elisabeth Station was inaugurated by Prince Philip on September 5th after an international press conference held at Tour & Taxis in Brussels. Belgium's new Antarctic research station was conceived and built by the International Polar Foundation with the help of its financial and technical partners.
The public that turned out for the ceremony watched Prince Philippe and Alain Hubert, general supervisor of the project and co-founder of the International Polar Foundation, cross the station's doorstep. After the Prince had toured the interior of the station, he was offered a piece of the delicious cake shaped in the form of the Princess Elisabeth Station and prepared by the famous Belgian baker Wittamer. The Prince minted the first of a series in 10 € coins commemorating the Princess Elisabeth, then visited the various expositions and partner stands in front of the station.
The inauguration ceremony was a fantastic success, attended by over 200 journalists and 2000 guests. An estimated forty thousand visitors came to see the station during the following four days, touring the station's site and viewing its adjacent expositions.
Workers have already begun dismantling the Princess Elisabeth Station at Tour & Taxis. The pieces of the station need first to be evacuated from the site before being carefully loaded into containers. They will then be transported to the Belgian port of Antwerp where they will be loaded onto a vessel from the DROMSHIP (Dronning Maud Land Ship) network. The DROMSHIP will leave Antwerp early November, carrying the station's 100 containers (20 ft. long each).
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