Hoegaarden

This article is about the municipality. For the brewery, see Hoegaarden Brewery.
Hoegaarden
Municipality

Town square of Hoegaarden

Flag
Coat of arms
Hoegaarden

Location in Belgium

Coordinates: 50°47′N 04°54′E / 50.783°N 4.900°E / 50.783; 4.900Coordinates: 50°47′N 04°54′E / 50.783°N 4.900°E / 50.783; 4.900
Country Belgium
Community Flemish Community
Region Flemish Region
Province Flemish Brabant
Arrondissement Leuven
Government
 • Mayor Jean-Pierre Taverniers (CD&V)
 • Governing party/ies CD&V
Area
 • Total 37.17 km2 (14.35 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2016)[1]
 • Total 6,117
 • Density 160/km2 (430/sq mi)
Postal codes 3320, 3321
Area codes 016
Website www.hoegaarden.be

Hoegaarden (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦuɣaːrdə(n)]) is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Hoegaarden proper, Meldert and Outgaarden. On January 1, 2006, Hoegaarden had a total population of 6,225. The total area is 33.93 square kilometres (13.10 square miles) which gives a population density of 183 inhabitants per km².

History

The Gorgonius church

The current village was founded in 981 by the last ruler of the county of Brunengeruz. Countess Alpaïdis (Alpeide) later gave her county and castle (today the site of St-Gorgoniuskerk) to the Prince-Bishop of Liège. As an enclave of the Liège prince bishopric the village had tax advantages over the villages in the surrounding Duchy of Brabant, leading to the growth of the brewing industry. This tax advantage was lost after the French Revolution once the Prince-Bishopric of Liège was abolished. The industry had withered to nothing by 1955, but Pierre Celis later re-launched the town's now iconic white beer which has since gone on to become a global brand. In December 2005, it was decided to close the Hoegaarden Brewery and move the production of the beers to the Jupille brewery in southern Belgium. However, the beer could not be brewed there with the right characteristics, and so the plan was cancelled.

Famous inhabitants

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Hoegaarden is twinned with:

References

  1. ↑ Population per municipality as of 1 January 2016 (XLS; 397 KB)
 Boutersem Tienen
Beauvechain (WBR)
  Hoegaarden  
Jodoigne (WBR) Hélécine (WBR)


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.