Baelen

Baelen
	Baelen
	Baelen
State :	Belgium
Region :	Wallonia
Province :	Liege
District :	Verviers
Coordinates :	50 ° 38 ′ N , 5 ° 58 ′ E Coordinates: 50 ° 38 ′ N , 5 ° 58 ′ E
Area :	85.73 km²
Residents:	4454 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density:	52 inhabitants per km²
Post Code:	4837
Prefix:	087
Mayor:	Maurice Fyon
; Local government address :	Rue de la Régence, 1 ; 4837 Baelen
Website:	www.baelen.be

Baelen ( Walloon Bailou ) is a municipality in the province of Liège in the Walloon Region in Belgium , with a total of 4454 inhabitants (January 1, 2019) and an area of 85.73 km². To the place include the Weiler Nereth, Overoth, yard, Heggen, Honthem and directly at the border to Eupen situated former Franziskaner - Kloster Garnstock , with a church designed by Dominic Böhm .

Since the municipal merger of 1977 Membach was incorporated, this place was one of the largest municipalities in Belgium in terms of area (7103 ha, 6705 ha of which is forest).

language

Baelen is the southernmost of the three Low German communities ( Platdietse streek , orange) with French as the official language, in which no use has been made of the legally possible "dormant" facilities for Dutch and German speakers

In Baelen, Platdiets is traditionally spoken, an East Limburg - Ripuarian transition dialect. The official language, however, is French , which has also been the only school language since 1918 . In terms of linguistic policy, Baelen is one of the communities with facilities for speakers of German or Dutch that are designated as “dormant” , as this has not yet been used.

history

The first mention of the place "Baelus" comes from the year 888. From an ecclesiastical point of view, the Duke of Limburg assigned the pastoral care of the parishes of the duchy to the abbot of Rolduc Abbey . The Sankt Pauluskirche already existed around 1180 and was converted into a Gothic church in the early 15th century, which in turn was extensively restored in 1773. The church tower has a flamed ( twisted or twisted ) shape, which occurs only about 100 times in Europe. The Rolduc Abbey provided the pastors and priests of the area until 1792, so Baelen was the mother parish of the much larger city of Eupen until 1695. Until 1795, Baelen was one of the five high banks (administrative and judicial districts) in the Duchy of Limburg . From 1815 to 1920 the eastern municipal boundaries of Baelen and Membach formed the Belgian state border with Prussia .

Personalities

Jean Arnolds (1904–1944), Catholic clergyman, executed in Brandenburg penitentiary

photos

Location of Baelen in the province of Liege
Baelen Church
Saint Paul Baelen
Garnstock Abbey Church

Web links

Commons : Baelen - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

[1] History of the Garnstock monastery

[2] Local history on the community website