Eeklo

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Eeklo
Eeklo wapen.svg Eeklovlag.png
Eeklo (East Flanders Province)
Eeklo
Eeklo
State : BelgiumBelgium Belgium
Region : Flanders
Province : East Flanders
District : Eeklo
Coordinates : 51 ° 11 ′  N , 3 ° 34 ′  E Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′  N , 3 ° 34 ′  E
Area : 30.05 km²
Residents: 21,134 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density: 703 inhabitants per km²
Height: 8  m
Post Code: 9900
Prefix: 09
Mayor: Koen Loete ( CD&V )

Local government address : 		Stadsbestuur
Industrielaan 2, 9900 Eeklo
Website: www.eeklo.be
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Eeklo is a Belgian city ​​in the Flanders region . It is located in the province of East Flanders and is the central city in Meetjesland . It is the administrative seat of the Belgian arrondissement of the same name .

location

The city is only a few kilometers south of the border with the Dutch province of Zeeland at an altitude of about 8  m OP The city of Ghent is 20 km southwest, Bruges 24 km west, Antwerp 28 km east and Brussels 66 km southeast.

Surname

The name Eeklo "Eichenlohe" refers to a wood ("-lo" etym. Related to German "-lohe") made of scattered oak trees or to a wood with a particularly striking oak ( Eke ). On a ridge of sand that crosses the area from west to east, this formed a clear recognition point for travelers, which eventually became the name of the place.

history

Eeklo between 1771 and 1778

Eeklo acquired city rights in 1240 under Joan of Constantinople . The city belonged to the county of Flanders, whose counts owned a hunting domain in Eeklo. Within the county, Eeklo made part of the so-called Brugse Vrije , a castellany in the county of Flanders. Eeklo had a variety of trade relations with Ghent . It is the cloth weaving that made the city famous during this period. The town charter helped Eeklo to have its own jurisdiction and fixed the area. Lembeke was one of them until 1626 , when Eeklo was given as a loan pledge to a noble family, which was not to change until the end of the Ancien Régime (1789).

During the denominational wars of the 16th century, Eeklo got into the front line between the Protestant north and the Catholic south, which had wreaked havoc. The population fled, so that for a while Eeklo was as good as deserted and almost desolate. That is one of the reasons why the city can only boast a few medieval buildings.

After the pacification , Eeklo slowly revived and the wire and textile manufacture was resumed. In the 19th century this formed the basis for the industrialization process that took place after Belgium separated from the north, while Eeklo became the administrative and ecclesiastical capital of Meetjesland . The neo-Gothic buildings and rows of workers' houses, which still determine the street scene, date from this time. In addition to the textile industry, the furniture industry also flourished between 1900 and 1970. Cultural life also flourished during this time.

Due to the decline in Eeklo's industrial operations (including the Krüger brewery) and a lack of new industrial terrain, there are currently fewer jobs in Eeklo itself. At present the city functions mainly as a sub-regional center of trade and services with a wide range of educational opportunities.

City structure

I : Eeklo; II : Balgerhoeke

Eeklo has no sub-municipalities or only the city itself is the only sub-municipality.

There is also Balgerhoeke . Balgerhoeke is along the Schipdonk Canal on the border with Adegem . The settlement to the west of the canal immediately followed, but it already belongs to Adegem. Balgerhoeke cannot be regarded as a sub-community, as it was never an independent community at all, but Balgerhoeke forms its own parish, which was built around the turn of the century and whose first pastor Eduard Bernard Bonte (1862-1935) performed his service from 1902. The neo-Gothic church was put into use from 1906 and was designed by the architect Modest De Noyette (1847-1922). St. Anthony of Padua was the patron saint. The parish even developed into a small place of pilgrimage, the boundaries of the parish extended beyond the municipal boundary to Adegem. The location on the canal and the railway contributed to the economic development of the place, but also made the square a military target, so that the place was badly damaged during the world wars: The church was therefore built a total of three times during the twentieth century. Many projects are currently being planned: the widening of the Schipdonk Canal is pending and an industrial area behind the patch is being considered. There is strong rejection of both plans among local residents. Due to the limited extent of the area, Eeklo has few hamlets or settlement areas. Bus are Pokmoere are the only areas that can still be regarded as something like a neighborhood of their own, otherwise there are only a few house groups in the rural north.

In 1977, as a measure to straighten the border, part of the former municipality of Adegem was added to Eeklo, so that the western border now follows the course of the Schipdonk Canal .

Eeklo borders on the following (sub) municipalities:

politics

The municipal council in Eeklo has 25 seats. The college of mayors and aldermen of Eeklo consists of the mayor, 5 aldermen and the chairman of the Openbaar Centrum voor Maatschappelijk Welzijn (Public Center for Social Welfare) (OCMW) as an additional member.

List of mayors of Eeklo:

period Surname Political party Life dates
1830-1831 Karel Stroo - 1793-1873
1831-1836 Joseph Dhuyvetter lib. 1779-1861
1836-1846 Karel Stroo - 1793-1873
1846-1848 Carolus Bernardus Temmerman - 1793-18 ??
1848-1859 Joseph Dhuyvetter lib. 1779-1861
1859-1872 Romanus van Wassenhove lib. 1793-1873
1872-1874 Aimé Euerard cath. 1833-1896
1874-1881 Désiré Steyaert cath. 1816-1881
1882-1884 Edouard Neelemans cath. 1820-1899
1885-1902 Philip Alfons De Wachter cath. 1831-1902
1902-1920 Emiel Dauwe cath. 1848-1930
1921-1938 Lionel Pussemier cath. 1869-1938
1939-1945 Lionel Van Damme lib. 1876-1945
1946-1970 Maurice Goethals CVP 1884-1970
1971-1976 Piet Van Gyseghem CVP -scheurlijst 1932-1982
1977-1988 Alfons Coppieters CVP 1924-
1989-1994 Roni De Waele VLD
1995-2006 Erik Matthijs CD&V 1949-
2007- Koen Loete CD&V / N-VA / ELD 1967-

Demographic development

  • Source: NIS - Note: 1806 up to and including 1970 = census on December 31; from 1977 = population on January 1st
  • 1977: incorporation of a small area of ​​Adegem (+1.82 km² with 108 inhabitants)

Attractions

Eeklo, town hall with belfry (right); left behind is the church tower of the neo-Gothic Sint-Vincentiuskerk
St. Vincentius Church, the town hall in the foreground
"Groot Goed" (great good), better known as "Huysmanshoeve" ( house man's hooves )

The most famous buildings in the city are:

  • The 17th century town hall of the Flemish Renaissance, with its belfry from 1932, has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage “Belfries in Belgium and France” since 1999 .
  • The St. Vincentius Church, built 1878-1883 in neo-Gothic style, Kerkplein
  • The neo-Gothic Magistrate's Court from 1899, Stationsstraat 21 (now houses the city's tourist service on the ground floor)
  • The 13th century Groot Goed or Huysmanshoeve , Bus 1
  • Chapel of the Heilig-Hartkliniek or St. Vincentius à Paulo monastery chapel from 1855 in neo-Gothic style, Koning Albertstraat 77
  • The Minderbroederskerk or Paterskerk a hall church built from 1866 - 1888 in neo-Gothic style, market
  • Villa Dageraad or Hotel Shamon from 1909 in Art Nouveau, Gentsesteenweg 28
  • Water tower and pumping station from 1937 in a modernist style, Peperstraat en Waaistraat
  • Monastery from the 17th / 18th centuries Century and Congregation Chapel of Our Lady of the Dorn from 1884 with neo-Gothic interior, Zuidmoerstraat 125
  • The Rootjen , a group of 17th century houses in the market.
  • Sint-Jan-Baptistziekenhuis en psychiatrisch centrum uit 1905 in neo-gothic stijl met kapel uit 1914, Oostveldstraat 1
  • The Jenever House Van Hoorebeke from 1740, today Jenever Museum, Van Hoorebekeplein

Events

  • The meetjesländer balloon meeting is one of the largest hot air balloon events in Belgium, it takes place every year on the last weekend of July.
  • Heroes in the park. On four summer evenings, on Thursdays, world music groups perform under fairy lighting in the city park.
  • The quay festivals - The fair in the 't Kaaiken district with the largest fair in Flanders.
  • The Herbakkers Festival in mid-August, referring to the legend of the Eelco baker (Eeklo).
  • GP Stad Eeklo, an annual international cyclo-cross race in February.

education

Eeklo has three secondary schools:

  • Liebfrauen-zum-Dorn-Kolleg (O.-L.-V.-ten-Doorn) (merger of the St. Vinzenzkolleg, the Liebfrauen-zum-Dorn-Institut and the St. Leoinstitut)
  • Provinciaal Technisch Instituut
  • Koninklijk Atheneum De Tandem

traffic

The city lies south of the European E34 Antwerp - Knokke and is crossed by the N9 Brussels - Ostend . Eeklo is easily accessible by public transport. The railway line 58 Gent-Eeklo– Maldegem is served every hour on working days, and every two hours on weekends and holidays to Eeklo. On the remainder to Maldegem, there is museum traffic by steam locomotives as part of the Museum Stoomcentrum Maldegem . Eeklo is also connected to the De Lijn regional bus network.

Daughters and sons of the city

Town twinning

Eeklo maintains city partnerships with the following cities:

Others

“Domain” Het Leen

A path in the "Het Leen" area

The “provincial domain” Het Leen is partly on Eekloer Grundgebiet and stretches to Zomergem .

The baker from Eelco

In the dining room of the Muiderslot in Muiden , North Holland, hangs a small painting with a strange motif, entitled de bakker van Eelco , "The baker of Eelco", which is identified with the town of Eelco Eeklo between Ghent and Bruges in Meetjesland. There is a (bad) copy of this painting on which the name of a Hieronymus Franken is recorded, which was later changed to “unknown painter”. Only the Flemish School, second half of the 16th century is noted on the corresponding picture in the Muiderslot . On the back of the copy mentioned above, a scrap of paper was found with the following inscription (The following is a literal rendering in German): The legend of the Eelco baker. This baker had a liquid with which he could smear human heads and then put them in the oven. They were then changed at the request of those who brought the heads. At the same time the character traits changed, also following the wish. He counteracted the bleeding by placing a green cabbage on the trunk. The legend comes from plus-minus 1540.

In the vernacular of Flanders we occasionally come across expressions which can be connected with the above story. For example, one knows the expression Naar Eeklo moet men gaan om zich te laten herbakken , You have to go to Eeklo to be baked again .

There is also a verse that says: Ik vond daer eenen Eeckloonaer staen, stookt den oven, stookt den oven, zei de Eecklonaer . I found an Eekloer standing there, lighting the stove, lighting the stove, said the Eekloer . The original dirty name for Eekloer was also Ovenstokers , which means something like "oven heater". Eeklo was once known for its ceramic industry.

The town of Maldeghem (Maldegem) is located near Eeklo. There has been a great rivalry between the two places for a long time. This rivalry reached an early climax in 1458. That year a man from Eeklo killed one from Maldeghem, resulting in a large and lengthy trial in which both cities were involved. Maldeghem won the process, some citizens of Eeklo were locked up in the Maldeghemer fort. The Eekloer then penetrated the fort to free the prisoners. Duke Philip the Good intervened in the dispute and sentenced Eeklo to a heavy fine and also stipulated that the residents of Eeklo Maldeghem had to ask for forgiveness, which was what happened. Thus Eeklo succumbed to a double defeat Dit divorced. Hence the people of Maldeghem also said that the Eeclonaers were dubbel bakken , that the Eekloer were double baked, a remark borrowed from the profession of most Eekloer at the time, the clay burner.

Under the influence of the ongoing rivalry, the terms have remained in use, but the actual trial has been forgotten. Perhaps a painter with a lot of imagination heard of this expression and therefore painted a free fantasy painting. It was probably written around 1570, exactly at a time when an atmosphere of discontent and sarcasm was developing. It has therefore also been assumed that the painter wanted to sharply criticize certain conditions with the painting, but there are no further references.

Web links

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

supporting documents

  1. ↑ See in the “Nederlandstalige Wikipedia”: nl: Meetjesland
  2. ^ De burgemeesters van Eeklo sinds 1830 , Willy De Zutter . Een uitgave van drukkerij-uitgeverij de Eeclonaar , 1990, Eeklo.
  3. ↑ see also “Wikipedia-NL”: nl: Het Leen
  4. ↑ Peter van Mensch: Spreekwoorden en gezegden in het Muiderslot en Arth. Wijsman: De legende van de bakker van Eelco, in: Oud Holland, Volume 54 (1937), p. 173.