Vilvoorde

Vilvoorde
Vilvoorde
State :	Belgium
Region :	Flanders
Province :	Flemish Brabant
District :	Halle-Vilvoorde
Coordinates :	50 ° 56 '  N , 4 ° 25'  E Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '  N , 4 ° 25'  E
Area :	21.48 km²
Residents:	44,727 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density:	2,082 inhabitants per km²
Post Code:	1800
Prefix:	02-015
Mayor:	Hans Bonte ( SPA / Groen )
Local government address :	Stad Vilvoorde Stadhuis Grote Markt 1800 Vilvoorde
Website:	www.vilvoorde.be

Vilvoorde ( French Vilvorde ) is a city in Belgium ( Province of Flemish Brabant , Arrondissement Halle-Vilvoorde ).

The city has 44,727 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) and is located 10 km northeast of Brussels on the Senne and the Brussels-Scheldt Sea Canal . About 10% of the population is Spanish and about the same proportion is of Moroccan descent, although many were born in Belgium.

history

The Nervians and later the Romans probably already settled on the site of today's Vilvoorde . The place is first documented in the year 700. It was granted city rights in 1192. In the 15th century there was a lively cloth industry in Vilvoorde.

economy

Vilvoorde is a traditional industrial city. However, 1997 was the Renault factory Renault Belgique industry , until then the main employer, closed. The structural change was promoted in particular by the settlement of media companies, for example the regional television station Ring-TV.

traffic

Vilvoorde is very conveniently located. The railway runs through the city from Brussels to Antwerp . It is located on the Brussels-Scheldt Sea Canal, on the Brussels ring road and on the Brussels-Antwerp motorway . The ring motorway spans the railway, the sea canal and the former Renault factory with a 2 kilometer long viaduct. The Brussels Airport is just a few kilometers away. This location also makes the city attractive for logistics companies today. A new container terminal reinforces this.

Districts

The following districts belong to the municipality of Vilvoorde:

• Houtem
• Koningslo
• Peutie

Attractions

The Chapel of Saint Lendrik / Landry in Vilvoorde

The town has several interesting churches, including the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe-Kerk, built in the 14th century, with choir stalls from 1663, and the Basilica Maria Trost , built in the Baroque style of the 17th century and adjacent to a Carmelite monastery .

The baroque Lendrik Chapel was rebuilt in the park area of ​​the Drie Fonteinen domain on the left side of the canal north of the motorway ring . It was originally built in Ransbeek, a hamlet just south of the motorway ring in the Neder-Over-Heembeek sub-municipality in the Brussels-Capital Region . It was consecrated in 1669 to Saint Landry de Soignies / Landricus van Zinnik, a Franconian bishop from Mons (born around 637, died around 700). When the hamlet of Ransbeek fell victim to the construction of a large coking plant (the Cokeries de Marly ) in the 1930s , the Vilvoorder council member Daniël Campion was able to have the chapel demolished and rebuilt stone by stone in 1933-1934, where he was at the time belonging park of the domain Drie Fonteinen . A restoration took place in 1978.

Town twinning

Vilvoorde has international city partnerships with:

• Maubeuge (France)
• Middelburg (Netherlands)
• Ennepetal (Germany)
• Penarroya (Spain)
• Komatsu (Japan)

sons and daughters of the town

• Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont (before 1614–1699), son of Johan Baptista van Helmont (1580–1644), polymath and diplomat
• Cyril de Vère (1881–1964), French racing car driver
• Marcel Poot (1901–1988), musician and composer
• Rik Poot (1924-2006), artist
• Roger De Wulf (1929–2016), politician
• Jean-Marie Trappeniers (1942–2016), football goalkeeper
• Danny Devos (born 1959), artist
• Pascal Duquenne (* 1970), actor and disabled athlete
• Ken Leemans (born 1983), soccer player
• Maaike Polspoel (* 1989), cyclist
• Amelie Lens (* 1990), techno DJ and model
• Giannelli Imbula (* 1992), Belgian-French football player
• Alison Van Uytvanck (* 1994), tennis player

Other personalities associated with Vilvoorde

• William Tyndale (1484–1536), on October 6, 1536, the English Protestant and Bible translator was executed in Vilvoorde on charges of heresy.
• Jan van Batenburg (1495–1538), militant Anabaptist leader of the Batenburger, was convicted in Vilvoorde and burned at the stake.
• Johan Baptista van Helmont (1580–1644), alchemist, physiologist and doctor
• Jean-Luc Dehaene (1940–2014), former Belgian Prime Minister (1992–1999) and former Mayor of Vilvoorde (2002–2007)

Web links

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

Wikisource: Vilvoorde in the Topographia Circuli Burgundici (Mathäus Merian)  - sources and full texts

• Official website of the municipality (Flemish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jean-Marie Binst: Was Ransbeek en waarom is het geen fusiegemeente van de stad Brussel? Bruzz, May 30, 2018, p. 28