Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde (french: Saint-Gilles-lez-Termonde) is a part of the municipality of

Dendermonde Dendermonde (; french: Termonde, ) is a city in the Flemish province of East Flanders in Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Dendermonde and the towns of Appels, Baasrode, Grembergen, Mespelare, Oudegem, Schoonaarde, and Sint-Gillis-b ...

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 ...

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

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 ...

, a typical agricultural village in the Dendervallei near the junction of the railroads to

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

and

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 ...

. It was formerly known as Zwijveke. Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde is birthplace to poet

Emmanuel Hiel Emmanuel Hiel (30 May 183427 August 1899), was a Flemish-Dutch poet and prose writer. Hiel was born at Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde. During his life he held various jobs, from teacher and government official to journalist and bookseller, busily wr ...

(1834 - 1894) and literature historian

Wies Moens Wies Moens (28 January 1898 – 5 February 1982) was a literary historian, poet and ''Flamingant'' activist from Flanders. He was also a founding member of the Verdinaso, but left the movement after its change of course in 1934. He was born ...

(1898 - 1982). Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde has a yearly flower show on the first Sunday of September, a parade of flower-covered floats built in the several districts of Sint-Gillis, to a different theme each year. On 23 January 2009, a man attacked a children's daycare centre in the village, killing at least three people and wounding as many as twenty. Italian singer

Luciano Ligabue Luciano Riccardo Ligabue (born 13 March 1960), commonly known as Ligabue or Liga, is an Italian singer-songwriter, film director and writer. Biography Ligabue was born in Correggio, in the province of Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna egl, Emig ...

dedicated to the victims a song, inserted in his 2010 album, .

Places of Interest and Events

There is one cinema in Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde, named ''Cinema Albert''. It is one of the oldest cinemas in Belgium: it has been in business since 1914 and expanded after the

First World War 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 ...

. It has been a family business from the start, and is still run by the same family since 1914. It ranks 36th in the Belgian list of top cinemas. In 1931, a war monument was erected at Burgemeester Potiaulaan in remembrance of the victims of the

. It was designed by Jules Tijtgat, an engineer from

. Each year in the spring, the

Dendermonde Rugby Club Dendermonde RC is a Belgian rugby union club currently competing in Belgian Elite League. The club is based in Dendermonde in the Flemish Province of East Flanders. They are currently the only team from Flanders in the top flight. The official c ...

organises a rugby cup in Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde. On the first Sunday of September, a

Bloemencorso ''Bloemencorso'' (a Dutch word) means "flower parade", "flower pageant" or "flower procession". In a parade of this kind the floats (''praalwagens''), cars and (in some cases) boats are magnificently decorated or covered in flowers. This custom ...

is organised, a flower parade in which floats, cars and boats are decorated with flowers.

References

External links

bloemencorso st.gillisflower parade 2005Cinema Albert
{{Authority control Dendermonde Populated places in East Flanders de:Dendermonde#Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde