Groot-Bijgaarden (officially) or Grand-Bigard is a village and

deelgemeente A deelgemeente (, literally ''part-municipality'') or section ( French) is a subdivision of a municipality in Belgium and, until March 2014, in the Netherlands as well. Belgium Each municipality in Belgium that existed as a separate entity on 1 ...

in the municipality of

Dilbeek Dilbeek () is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Dilbeek proper, Groot-Bijgaarden, Itterbeek (with Sint-Anna-Pede), Schepdaal (with Sint-Gertrudis-Pede) ...

, a suburb of

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, 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 culture ...

, Belgium.

Toponymy

The name Bijgaarden is derived from the Germanic word for enclosure. The appellation "Great" (Groot) was attached to distinguish it from the smaller Klein-Bijgaarden nearby, now in the municipality of

Sint-Pieters-Leeuw Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (; french: Leeuw-Saint-Pierre) is a Dutch-speaking municipality of Belgium located in the province of Flemish Brabant ( Flemish Region). The municipality comprises the towns of Oudenaken, Ruisbroek, Sint-Laureins-Berchem, S ...

History

The earliest record of Groot-Bijgaarden is in the 12th century, when it appears as ''Bigardis''. This derives from the house of Bijgaarden. They made various contributions to the abbeys of Affligem and Groot-Bijgaarden. As a result of different marriages, the village came into the hands of the Veele Family, an important family from Brussels. After many donations, Groot-Bijgaarden was publicly sold to the counts of Königsegg-Erps in the second half of the 14th century. It is a former

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 ...

in the

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 outsi ...

of Flemish Brabant, Belgium. Since 1977 it is a subdivision (

) of the municipality of

Geography

Groot-Bijgaarden is situated between

and Zellik. As of 31 December 2019 the population of Groot-Bijgaarden was 8.349.Current population figures only are provided by the municipal administration of Dilbee

/ref>

Attractions

* Groot-Bijgaarden Castle: rebuilt castle, where an annual flower show is held in spring. * Saint-Wivina Benedictine nunnery: founded in 1125, grew strongly thanks to various donations, sold publicly during the French Revolution. * Sint-Egidius Church: built in 1776, rebuilt in 1950 after a hit by a German V2 during the Second World War

Gallery

Image:Groot Bijgaarden, het Pampoelhuis foto2 RM38971 2011-10-02.jpg, Groot Bijgaarden, monumental house: het Pampoelhuis Image:Groot Bijgaarden, kerk1 foto2 2011-10-02 12.40.JPG, Groot Bijgaarden, church

Notes

{{Authority control Dilbeek Former municipalities of Flemish Brabant