Wervik

Wervik
	Wervik
	Wervik
State :	Belgium
Region :	Flanders
Province :	West Flanders
District :	Ypres
Coordinates :	50 ° 47 ' N , 3 ° 3' E Coordinates: 50 ° 47 ' N , 3 ° 3' E
Area :	43.61 km²
Inhabitants: (status)	17,775 pop (January 1, 2008)
Population density:	408 inhabitants per km²
Post Code:	8940
Prefix:	056
Mayor:	Youro Casier ( sp.a )
; Local government address :	Stad Wervik ; Sint-Maartensplein 16 ; 8940 Wervik
Website:	www.wervik.be

Panorama of Wervik in World War 1

Wervik ( French Wervicq ) is a Belgian city in the south of the Flanders region with around 17,600 inhabitants. It consists of the core city, the district Geluwe and the street village Kruiseke .

location

Bridge over the Leie

The Belgian city lies on the left bank of the Leie (French: Lys ), which forms the border between Belgium and France . On the French side is Wervicq-Sud , which was separated from Wervik with the Peace Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 (see also Wervy ). Ypres is 14 kilometers (km) northwest, Kortrijk 15 km northeast, the French city of Lille 16 km south, Bruges 48 km north, Ghent 55 km northwest and Brussels about 90 km east (all information as the crow flies to the respective city centers).

history

Wervik is one of the oldest settlements in Belgium. Its origins can be traced back to the Menapian settlement of Virovos on the one hand and to the Roman road station Viroviacum on the other . Both settlements existed before the turn of the century . The Viroviacum belonging to the province of Gallia Belgica was located at a ford of the Leie. This is where the military road ran between Cologne and Boulogne-sur-Mer . It is recorded as Virovino on the Peutinger map .

Wervik's heyday was the 13th century . Along with Ypres, Bruges and Ghent, Wervik was one of the most important centers of Flemish cloth making. The cloths from Wervik were known as panni de vervi . However, the city was repeatedly set back in its development by numerous wars between France, Flanders and Burgundy . Wervik was almost completely destroyed in 1382 after the revolt of the Flemish guilds against Count Ludwig II of Flanders . In 1401 Johann Ohnefurcht donated a cloth hall to revive the cloth making industry.

After the final decline of the cloth industry, tobacco growing and trading became one of the most important economic sectors in Wervik from the end of the 17th century . In the 18th century, Wervik was a center of tobacco smuggling into France. Even today, more than 90 percent of Belgian tobacco is grown in and around Wervik.

The Peace of Utrecht divided Wervik into a northern, Austrian part (today's Belgian city) and a southern, French part, Wervicq-Sud .

During the First World War , Wervik was occupied by German troops and almost completely destroyed by British artillery in 1917/1918 . During an English gas attack in 1918, Adolf Hitler was wounded near Wervik while he was fighting there. Even in World War II there was fighting here. The resistance of the second Belgian cavalry division in the losing battle of Geluwe (25/26 May 1940) during the Leieschlacht was one of the last combat operations of the Belgian armed forces before the surrender on May 28, 1940.

language

The West Flemish dialect of Dutch is spoken in Wervik .

Attractions

Medarduskirche

The Medarduskirche is one of the more important church buildings in West Flanders. Its architecture combines Romanesque and Gothic elements. The choir and the transept are characterized by the Scheldt Gothic style, while the rest of the building is part of the Brabant High Gothic . The patron saint is St. Medardus .

Belgian Tobacco Museum
Windmills: the wooden Kruisekemolen (built in 1735) and the bricked Briekenmolen at the Tobacco Museum (built in 1783).

traffic

The next motorway exits are at Menen on the A19 , Wevelgem on the A17 and Kortrijk on the A14 ( E17 ). Wervik has a regional train station on the Poperinge- Wervik-Kortrijk line. National express trains also stop in Lille, Bruges and Ghent. There is a regional airport near Lille and an international airport near the Belgian capital, Brussels.

sons and daughters of the town

Wim Delvoye (* 1965), concept artist
Jef Demuysere (1907–1969), racing cyclist
Ward Lernout (born 1931), painter
Yves Leterme (* 1960), politician

Web links

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

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