![1963 NEDER OVER HEEMBEEK LA TOUR ROMANE dessin par Léon van Dievoet 1963](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/1963_NEDER_OVER_HEEMBEEK_LA_TOUR_ROMANE_dessin_par_L%C3%A9on_van_Dievoet_1963.JPG)
Neder-Over-Heembeek (; ) is a northern part of the
City of Brussels
The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...
municipality, inside the
Brussels-Capital Region
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 ...
,
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 a former municipality which lost its municipality status when it was merged with the City of Brussels. Now it is a section of that municipality, and a predominantly industrial zone, remarkable principally for the Military Hospital, which is the National Burns and Poisons center.
History
It was once a small village, just named Heembeek on the edge of medieval Brussels, and was founded around a small church that became the center of a parish.
Later a second church was built around a growing hamlet in the north, and the two parishes were separated, that became two villages: Over-Heembeek ("Upper Heembeek") surrounding the church of St Nicholas in the northern part, and Neder-Heembeek ("Lower Heembeek") surrounding the church of Saints Peter and Paul in the southern part of Heembeek. Both parishes came into the possession of
Dieleghem Abbey
Dieleghem Abbey (french: Abbaye de Dieleghem) or Dielegem Abbey ( nl, Abdij van Dielegem) is a former abbey located in the Brussels municipality of Jette, Belgium.
History
The oldest reference to the abbey dates from 1095, when the Bishop of ...
in 1112 and 1155, respectively.
During the 15th century the Goudenaken family was the owner of the castle at Lower Heembeek. In 1505, it came into the possession of the famous Busleyden family with the marriage of Adriana van Goudenaken and Gilis van Busleyden. They had twelve children. Gilis was the brother of two other famous members of the family:
Hieronymus van Busleyden
Hieronymus van Busleyden (Dutch: Jeroen van Busleyden; French: Jérôme de Busleyden) (c.1470 – 27 August 1517) was a patron of learning and a humanist from the Habsburg Netherlands. His name is usually partially Latinized in English, and c ...
and
Frans van Busleyden
Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis (given name), Francis''.
Given name
* Frans van Aarssens (1572†...
(aka ''Franciscus Buslidius''). For more than a century the castle remained in the hands of the Busleyden family. In 1554, after the decease of his mother Adriana, Jan van Busleyden became Lord at Heembeek. But only two years later he died, and his son Gilis inherited Heembeek Castle in 1557. Being a minor, he came under the guardianship of his uncle Willem van Busleyden. Gilis died in Brussels in 1596. With his wife Anna he had six children. Adriaan-Eric Van Busleyden inherited Heembeek Castle, but he died in 1617. His brother Lodewijk had already died in 1615 and the castle was handed to Margareta Van Busleyden. She was married to Jan van Tiras. When Margareta died in 1663 Frans-Robrecht van Tyras became heir of the castle at Lower Heembeek (''sloth van busleyden op de schipvaert''). He died two months later and Jan Frans 't Serclaes, the son of Joanna Van Busleyden became the next owner of ''het casteelke of sloth van Busleyden''. He sold the castle in 1674 to the monks at Dieleghem Abbey. Two years later, they resold the castle to the widow of Jan Bollaert from the well-known merchant family in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, .
In 1814, the two parishes of Lower and Upper Heembeek were finally merged into one parish when the first municipality did appear in 1813, but instead of taking back the older name Heembeek, the two adjectives were kept to preserve the identity of the two parishes.
In 1921, the annexation of the former
Brabantian
Brabantian or Brabantish, also Brabantic or Brabantine ( nl, Brabants, Standard Dutch pronunciation: , ), is a dialect group of the Dutch language. It is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant, which corresponded mainly to the Dutch provi ...
municipalities of
Haren,
Laken
() or () is a residential suburb in the north-western part of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. It belongs to the municipality of the City of Brussels and is mostly identified by the Belgian postal code: 1020. Prior to 1921, it was a sep ...
and Neder-Over-Heembeek to Brussels took place tripling the size of the Belgian capital to its present-day extent.
Today, now as a part of in the City of Brussels, "Heembeek" is frequently used to name various civil and commercial services located in that area (such as transportation stops, or a school), ignoring the historic distinction of parishes.
Neder-over-Hembeek,_Eglise_Saint_Nicolas.JPG, Church of St Nicholas in Upper Heembeek.
N-O-Heembbek_Bxl_01.JPG, Romanesque tower of the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Lower Heembeek.
Kluis_de_Neder-Heembeek_06.JPG, The "Kluis" and the tower of the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Lower Heembeek.
Kluis_de_Neder-Heembeek_01.JPG, The "Kluis" in Lower Heembeek.
Kluis_de_Neder-Heembeek_02.JPG, West side of the "Kluis" in Lower Heembeek.
Jan van Helmont and alchemy
In 1618 or thereabouts, a most curious incident changed the course of scientific history here. In a farm near the church lived the local medic, one
Jan van Helmont, a follower of the teachings of
Paracelsus
Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance.
He w ...
. His son Mercurius, a close friend, tutor and collaborator of
Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...
, records that one evening, a stranger knocked at the door and was admitted. The two men talked late into the night about alchemy, and on leaving, the stranger left van Helmont with some unusual powder: he immediately mixed it with eight ounces of mercury, sealed in a clay crucible which was heated over the fire for twenty minutes, and broke the pot - to find eight ounces of gold. There are some suggestions that this visitor may have been a researcher who had had a significant hand in events leading up to the execution of the Counts of
Egmont Egmont may refer to:
* Egmont Group, a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark
* Egmond family (often spelled "Egmont"), an influential Dutch family, lords of the town of Egmond
** Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522–1568), the bes ...
and
Hoorne for heresy in 1568. This opened van Helmont's eyes to the possibility of scientific process, and he went on to become one of the founding fathers of modern chemistry.
In 1843, the same farm became the residence of
Count Gioacchino Pecci, the
Papal Nuncio
An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...
, who showed a more than passing interest in searching the place from top to bottom. Count Pecci became
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
in 1878.
[Het zijpad (2): Preekheren en vrijers bij zomeravond]
brusselnieuws.be, 23 August 2012
Notable residents
*
Bert Anciaux
Bert Jozef Herman Vic Anciaux (born 11 September 1959) is a Belgian politician and Vooruit faction leader in the Belgian Senate. He was one of the founders of Spirit (later known as the Flemish Progressives, then the Social Liberal Party, or SL ...
, Belgian politician
*
Steven Vanackere
Steven Vanackere, (, born on 4 February 1964 in Wevelgem) is a Belgian politician from Flanders and member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He held the portfolios of Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister of Foreign Aff ...
, Flemish politician
External links
Liaison office Neder-Over-Heembeek brussels.be
Verbindingsbureau Neder-Over-Heembeek brussel.be
Zwembad & Sportcomplex van Neder-Over-Heembeek brussel.be
Gemeenschapscentrum Heembeek Mutsaard heembeekmutsaard.be
Nederlandstalige kleuterschool Koningin Astrid opent in Heembeek brusselnieuws.be, 15/09/2015
References
{{Reflist
City of Brussels
Neighbourhoods of Brussels
Former municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region
Populated places in Belgium