Michelbeke is a village in the municipality of

Brakel Brakel () is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek and the Flemish Ardennes. The name is derived from a Carolingian villa ''Braglo'' first mentioned in 866 and located in the center of Opbrakel. Since 1970, t ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It is located in the

Denderstreek The Denderstreek or Denderland is a region in Belgium. It is named after the river Dender. Though the river stretches over three provinces, Hainaut, East Flanders and Flemish Brabant, the region called after the river is situated in East Flander ...

and in the

Flemish Ardennes The Flemish Ardennes (Dutch: ''Vlaamse Ardennen'') is an informal name given to a hilly region in the south of the province of East Flanders, Belgium. Highest summit is the Hotondberg (145 m). Main characteristics of the region are rural hilly lan ...

, the hilly southern part of the province of

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

. It was itself a municipality until the fusion of the municipalities on 1 January 1971.

History

Michelbeke has been inhabited since the Roman period. A Roman villa and bath house have been discovered during the construction of the Kammeland estate. The village was first mentioned in 1150s and is a toponym for mud brook. Railway line Aalst-Zottegem-Ronse opened in 1885 with a train station at Michelbeke which closed in 1963. The municipality merged into Brakel in 1971.

Sports

Women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

club

Richa Michelbeke Volley Richa Michelbeke is a Belgian volleyball team from Michelbeke (Brakel). The club was founded in 1966 and joined the official Belgian leagues one year later. Richa's first chairman was Belgian politician Herman De Croo. Their women's comp ...

plays at the highest level of the Belgian league pyramid.

Gallery

File:Molenaarswoning Michelbeke Boembeke.jpg, Miller's house File:Zicht op Michelbeke.jpg, View on Michelbeke

References

Brakel Former municipalities of East Flanders Populated places in East Flanders {{EastFlanders-geo-stub