Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Puurs
Summary
Puurs (pyːrs) is a former municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. It is located in the Flemish Region. The municipality comprised the towns of Breendonk, Liezele, Kalfort, Ruisbroek (old spelling: Ruysbroeck) and Puurs proper. There is also the hamlet of Kalfort. In 2021, Puurs had a total population of 17,684. The total area is .
Puurs sits about 5 meters above mean sea level. Its geography shows only minor elevation differences. Puurs is mainly rural, with some low intensity industry development in the North alongside the N16 expressway. However, because of its proximity to the cities of Antwerp and Brussels (both within a radius) and its excellent accessibility, Puurs is developing increasingly into a residential town.
Effective 1 January 2019, Puurs and Sint-Amands were merged into the new municipality of Puurs-Sint-Amands.
Signs of habitation dating back to the Iron Age, as well as early Roman and Merovingian times, have been found in Puurs.
Arguably, the Benedictine abbeys of Saint-Cornelimunster of Aachen were the lords of Puurs in the 10th century A.D. In 1278 the municipality was acquired by the Abbey of Sint-Bernard's upon Scheldt, whose property it would remain until the end of the 18th century.
Puurs' Saint-Peter Church is quite large and is hence sometimes referred to as the region's "cathedral". It was built in the 15th century, on the remains of a roman-style church. The baroque-style bell tower was added in the late 17th century. The classical center piece was completed in 1744.
The lands of Kalfort are widely renowned for producing the most delicious asparagus, and at the beginning of summer a festival is held in honour of this "white gold".
The internationally sold Duvel beer is brewed in Breendonk, by the Duvel-Moortgat brewery. Each year in August, a long foot march called the Dodentocht (Death March) passes by the brewery, and participants and spectators can enjoy Duvel beer for free.
Fort Breendonk was used by the Nazis as a political prison camp.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.