The Belgian connection?

[Zivio]

I started grade school in Belgium in 1967 ...

Seems lately I've been encountering many handwriting/calligraphy enthusiasts from Belgium on Instagram and elsewhere. It may simply be that my mind is making this connection, but I'm wondering if there is a special handwriting culture in this country. Is there a particular awareness, or more general/regular use of handwriting that may be motivating its citizens to improve their everyday handwriting?

[sybillevz]

Not that I'm aware of, although we do have a rich history of bookmaking.
There is a "cluster" or calligraphers in Bruges, which was a place where lots of books were copied in the Middle Ages. Other than that, I wouldn't say we encourage our youngs to practice calligraphy. Many people don't know what calligraphy is or "what it's for" 

[jeanwilson]

A while ago, I met a woman who was from South America - although I do not remember which country. She said that there were many styles of penmanship and that you could tell which school a person attended by their penmanship. As I recall, she said that the schools were run by nuns. I have always wondered about this - and was curious to see examples.

I've always enjoyed meeting random people who have beautiful penmanship and asking them how they happened to have such pretty penmanship. Often times they had a one word answer - "NUNS!" It seemed funny that some of them still sounded resentful about the style of teaching - and that they were not appreciative of their rare skill.