Slenaken ( Limburgish: ''Sjlennich'') is a village in the

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 ...

province of

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 ...

. Slenaken was a separate municipality until 1982, when it was merged with

Wittem Wittem (, ) is a small village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Gulpen-Wittem. History The village was first mentioned in 1125 as Witham, and means "means silted land in a bend in a waterway". Wittem develo ...

History

On a bank of the River Gulp, just to the south of Slenaken, is the "grinding stone of Slenaken" (''"Slijpsteen van Slenaken"''), a large flint boulder used in the

Neolithic period The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

to polish stone axe heads. The earliest surviving written record of Slenaken dates from 1252. At that time, along with the parish, Slenaken comprised a handful of houses and farmsteads. At some point before 1428 a small chapel was constructed. There is a legend that this was triggered when a shepherd saw one of his sheep kneeling before a "cross" in a

burning bush The burning bush (or the unburnt bush) refers to an event recorded in the Jewish Torah (as also in the biblical Old Testament). It is described in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus as having occurred on Mount Horeb. According to the ...

.Gerard C. Ubaghs, Geschiedkundig overzigt van Gulpen en deszelfs onderhoorige plaatsen, Maastricht: Hollmann, 1865, 55 & 57. This inspired the villagers to build the little chapel, where they came together each Friday to venerate the Holy Cross. Starting in 1495, the site expanded and became a monastery. By 1676 the village was part of the (today Belgian) parish of St. Martens-Voeren. In 1793, after a number of conflicts, the St. Remigus church, the current church, was built.

Geography

Site

Slenaken is located in the municipality of

Gulpen-Wittem Gulpen-Wittem (; li, Gullepe-Wittem ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands (in the province of Limburg) with inhabitants as of . Gulpen-Wittem came into being after the merger of the municipalities Gulpen and Wittem. This took pla ...

, and is one of the southernmost villages of the Netherlands, close to the frontier with

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

, and along the valley of the

Gulp river The Gulp (; ; french: Galoppe) is a long river in eastern Belgium and southeastern Netherlands. It flows through the Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg, and the Dutch province of Limburg. It is a strongly meandering, fast flowing, left-ban ...

. To the north of the village is the Loorberg Hill, with the village of Epen, beyond that, to the northeast. The village of Noorbeek lies to the west of Slenaken, and across the border to the south are the little settlements of Nurop and

Teuven Voeren (; ) is a Flemish Dutch-speaking municipality with facilities for the French-speaking minority, located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the Netherlands to the north and the Wallonia region's Liège Province () to the so ...

. Slenaken itself is ringed by the hamlets of Beutenaken, Heijenrath and Schilberg, which for many purposes are treated as part of Slenaken.

Impressions

Image:Slenaken-Slenakermolen.JPG, The Slenaker mill

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Limburg (Netherlands) Former municipalities of Limburg (Netherlands) Gulpen-Wittem