Genk () is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

located in the Belgian

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, located on the

Albert Canal The Albert Canal (, ) is a canal located in northeastern Belgium, which was named for King Albert I of Belgium. The Albert Canal connects Antwerp with Liège, and also the Meuse river with the Scheldt river. It also connects with the Dessel� ...

, between Antwerp and Liège.

History

Celtic and medieval origins

Genk probably originated as a Celtic village, and was converted to Christianity in the 10th century. The remains of a little wooden church dating from that period were found in the area. The first mention of Genk as ''Geneche'' can be found in a document dating from 1108, ceding the territory to the Abbey of

Rolduc Rolduc is the name of a medieval abbey located on the edge of the town of Kerkrade in the far south-east of the Netherlands. It is today a Roman Catholic seminary with an affiliated conference center. The abbey is a '' rijksmonument'' (Dutch n ...

. Politically, Genk belonged to the

County of Loon The County of Loon ( , , ) was a county in the Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the Belgian province of Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloon. During the middle a ...

until it was annexed by the

Prince-Bishopric of Liège The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial Estate, so the bishop of Liège, as its prince, ...

in 1365.

19th century

During a century of on-going industrialisation further south in Belgium,

modernised only slowly: Genk remained unimportant and small, growing slowly to a population of 2,000 around 1900. The peaceful village was the home of landscape painters and writers such as

Neel Doff Cornelia Hubertina "Neel" Doff ( Buggenum, Netherlands, 27 January 1858 – Ixelles, Belgium, 14 July 1942) was an author of Dutch origin living and working in Belgium and mainly writing in French. She is one of the most important contributors ...

20th-century development

In 1901,

André Dumont André Dumont may refer to: * André Dumont (geologist) * André Dumont (politician) André Dumont (24 May 1764 at Oisemont – 19 October 1838 at Abbeville), was a French parliamentarian, a regicide, a deputy of the National Convention, Pres ...

found a large quantity of coal in the nearby village of As. Soon after, the "Black Gold" was also found in Genk. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the village started to attract a large quantity of both Belgian and foreign immigrants, and quickly became the biggest town in Limburg after Hasselt, peaking to a population of 70,000. However, in 1966 the coal mine of Zwartberg closed down, and Genk had to develop new industries, mainly along the

and highways. By the end of the 1980s, the two remaining coal mines at Winterslag and Waterschei were also closed. In 2000, Genk officially became a city.

Economy

Genk is the industrial centre of the province of Limburg and offers over 45,000 jobs, making it economically the third most significant city in

. In 1900, Genk was a quiet village with around 2,000 residents. At that time, Genk was known for its natural environment, popular among artists and painters who used Genk as a setting for their pieces. In 1901, coal was discovered in Genk and three mining sites were developed: Zwartberg, Waterschei and Winterslag (C-mine today). As a result, the population grew exponentially: today Genk has about 65,000 inhabitants with 107 different ethnic backgrounds. The mines had some good years, but in 1966 the Zwartberg mine closed, followed by Winterslag (C-mine today) in 1986 and Waterschei in 1987. The

Genk Body & Assembly ''Genk Body & Assembly'' was a Ford Motor Company automobile factory in Genk, Belgium, just over an hour to the west of the company's European head office in Cologne, Germany. The site spanned . The plant employed approx 4,300 workers in 2014. T ...

factory of

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

was the largest and most important employer in Genk until recently, employing some 5,000 people and building the

Mondeo The Ford Mondeo is a large family car manufactured by Ford since 1993. The first Ford model declared as a "world car", the Mondeo was intended to consolidate several Ford model lines worldwide (the European Sierra, the Telstar in Asia and Austr ...

sedan and hatchback, the Galaxy (second generation, from 2006 and onwards) MPV/minivan, and the S-MAX sub-MPV. The factory closed in 2014.

C-Mine

The city went looking for new opportunities for the enormous mine sites on its territory, including the Winterslag site. In 2000, the idea began to grow to accommodate a creative hub in the buildings of the old coal mine of Winterslag. In 2001, the city of Genk bought the site from LRM (Limburgse Reconversie Maatschappij) and the name "C-mine" was born in 2005. As regards content, the creative hub works on four cornerstones: education, creative economy, creative recreation and artistic creation and presentation. With a university college specialised in various artistic graduation subjects, an incubator for young entrepreneurs, a cultural centre, a design centre, a cinema, C-mine expedition, etc. the C-mine mission has succeeded. It has created 330 jobs in 42 companies and organisations, including around 200 jobs in the creative sector in 33 creative companies. Each day, C-mine produces: games, apps, websites, sets for television, drones, light shows, design items, stage productions, etc. C-mine is a site of creative makers in each of the four segments. * Companies in C-Mine: * E-nventors Lab / C-mine crib: E-nventors Lab is the research & development department of E-nvention that examines the latest technologies.

Sights

* The biggest tourist attraction of Genk is

Bokrijk The Bokrijk Provincial Domain ( nl, Provinciaal Domein Bokrijk) is a park and museum complex near Genk, Province of Limburg in Belgium. It is known for its open-air museum which displays a large collection of historical buildings from across Flan ...

, an

open-air museum An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

consisting of authentic relocated buildings (mainly dating from 17th till 19th century) from all over

. In the summer season, historical Flanders comes alive in Bokrijk through numerous actors and

re-enactment Reenactment or re-enactment may refer to: Legislation * Consolidation bill, a bill that consolidates several Acts of Parliament into a single Act in the United Kingdom * Repeal with reenactment, where a law is replaced with one more suitable Oth ...

events. * Genk was established as one of the entrance "gateways" of the

Hoge Kempen National Park Hoge Kempen National Park (''Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen'') is the first National Park in Flanders, Belgium. It is located in the Campine in the East of the Province of Limburg, between Genk and the river Meuse (Dutch: ''Maas'') Valley. It inclu ...

, the first National Park in Flanders, at its opening in 2006. * Also noteworthy are the old coalmines of Zwartberg, Waterschei and Winterslag, surrounded by slag heaps, huge black mountains of dug up soil and coal remnants. Some of the mine buildings and housing can be visited. * Despite its industrial past and present, Genk is nicknamed 'De Groene Stad' (''The Green City''). It sports a nature reserve called "De Maten", the large recreational area Kattevennen (with the Europlaneterium), Bokrijk, and several other green areas. In sunny weather, you may also want to pay a visit to the '' Sundial Park'' ( nl, Zonnewijzerpark). The history of the landscape painters who visited Genk between 1840 and 1940 can be discovered in the Museum Emile Van Doren. * The Europlanetarium Genk has a planetarium and observatory.

Events

* Genk was home of ''Motives Festival'', an annual event taking place in November and celebrating "new sounds of jazz." Recent performers have included the fiery piano jazz of

Esbjörn Svensson Trio Esbjörn Svensson Trio (or e.s.t.) was a Swedish jazz piano trio formed in 1993 consisting of Esbjörn Svensson (piano), Dan Berglund (double bass), and Magnus Öström (drums). Its music had classical, rock, pop, and techno elements. It listed c ...

, funky saxman

Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006). Life and career Joshua Redman was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman ...

, and futuristic electronics wizard Leafcutter John. Another musical event, ''Genk on Stage'', takes place during three days in the summer. This festival is celebrated no more. * Genk is also rich in tradition, with a colourful carnival taking place around Ash Wednesday, the May celebrations featuring the

May Queen In the British Isles and parts of the Commonwealth, the May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the May Day holiday, and of springtime and also summer. The May Queen is a girl who rides or walks at the front of a parade for May Da ...

, a flowers parade and a huge

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

finale, and finally the Saint Martin

procession A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

, in honour of Saint Martin of Tours, one of the most popular saints in Flanders. * In 2012 Genk was host to

Manifesta Manifesta, also known as the European Nomadic Biennial, is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale. History Manifesta was founded in 1994 by Dutch art historian Hedwig Fijen. The first edition took place in Rotterdam. One of t ...

, The roving European Biennial of Contemporary Art, together with events such as the biennial of Venice and the Documenta in Kassel, Manifesta is one of the foremost art events of Europe.

Transportation

Besides the Albert Canal, Genk has rail service to Hasselt and a small airport ( EBZW) northeast of the town center.

De Lijn Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn (English: Flemish transport company ''De Lijn''), usually known as De Lijn (, "The Line"), is a company run by the Flemish government in Belgium to provide public transportation with about 2240 buses and 399 tr ...

is the sole bus transport service provider within Genk.

Sports

Genk's major football club, KRC Genk, promoted from the second division in 1996 and quickly became one of Belgium's top clubs. They finished first in the highest football league in 1999, 2002, 2011 and 2019 and won the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

in 1998, 2000, 2009, 2013 and 2021. Because of this success, the '' Luminus Arena'' (formerly known as '' Fenix Stadium'' and ''

Cristal Arena The Cegeka Arena is a multi-purpose stadium in Genk, Belgium. It is currently used mostly for association football matches and is the home ground of K.R.C. Genk. The stadium holds 23,718

'') of KRC Genk (place for 25 500 supporters) has become an important centre of both sport and non-sport activities in recent years. In the 2016–2017 season Genk reached the quarter-finals of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

by defeating fellow Belgian side

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

over two legs, one of which was a 5–2 win. Karting Genk is a

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

CIK FIA track. In 2011 it hosted the Karting World Championship.

Demography

24% of the inhabitants are of foreign origin from about 85 different nationalities, mostly Italians,

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

, and

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

. It is believed that Genk has the largest Turkish community in Belgium relative to its population.

Notable people

, writer (1858–1942) * Jacques Germeaux, former politician and former senator (b. 1956) * Peter Vanhoutte, former politician and former Belgian MP (b. 1956) *

Martin Margiela Martin Margiela (born 9 April 1957) is a Belgian fashion designer, artist, and founder of French luxury fashion house Maison Margiela. Throughout his career, Margiela has maintained a low profile, refusing to grant face-to-face interviews o ...

, fashion designer (b. 1957) * Jo Vandeurzen, politician and

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

in the

Flemish region The Flemish Region ( nl, Vlaams Gewest, ),; german: Flämische Region usually simply referred to as Flanders ( nl, link=no, Vlaanderen ) ; german: link=no, Flandern is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and t ...

(b. 1958) * Dirk Medved, football defender (b. 1968) * Ronny Gaspercic, football

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

(b. 1969) * Karel Geraerts,

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

(b. 1982) *

Benjamin De Ceulaer Benjamin De Ceulaer (born 19 December 1983) is a Belgian former footballer. He had to retire in November 2018 because of injuries. Career On 20 January 2007, De Ceulaer played his first Eredivisie match with RKC Waalwijk against FC Twente. In t ...

(b. 1983) * Siglo XX, 1980's Coldwave band

Twin cities

Francistown Francistown is the second largest city in Botswana, with a population of about 103,417 and 147,122 inhabitants for its agglomeration at the 2022 census. and often described as the "''Capital of the North''" or as the natives would have it “''T ...

, Botswana *

Cieszyn Cieszyn ( , ; cs, Těšín ; german: Teschen; la, Tessin; szl, Ćeszyn) is a border town in southern Poland on the east bank of the Olza River, and the administrative seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town has 33,500 inhabitan ...

, Poland * Isparta, Turkey *

San Giovanni in Fiore San Giovanni in Fiore (; nap, label= Calabrian, Sangiuvanni ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The town originates from the Florense Abbey, built here by the Calabrian monk Joachim of ...

, Italy

Gallery

File:Genk - Woning Stationsstraat 13.jpg, Built in 1844, Stationsstraat 13, Genk File:Genk - Voormalig gemeentehuis.jpg, The Old Town Hall, built in neoclassical style File:Genk - Station Genk-Goederen.jpg, Train station Genk-Goederen File:Genk - Christus Koningkerk.jpg, "Mine cathedral" of Christ the King File:Genk Vogelkersstraat Watertoren.JPG, Water tower

References

External links

Official website
– Only available in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Official website of soccer club KRC Genk

Official website of the Open-Air Museum Bokrijk

Official website of C-Mine Genk

Official website of Pingvalue
{{Authority control Municipalities of Limburg (Belgium)