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Rijkhoven
Rijkhoven is a village in the Bilzen municipality of the Limburg province in the Flemish Community of Belgium. History The village was first mentioned in 1076 as Rudenchoven. It used to be part of the County of Loon. In 1220 the chapel of Alden Biesen was given to the Teutonic Order who establish a commandery. In 1870, Rijkhoven became an independent municipality. In 1971, the municipality merged with Kleine- en Grote-Spouwen into Spouwen. In 1977, Spouwen merged into Bilzen. The Alden Biesen Castle is located near the village, and was the commandery of the Teutonic Order. The current building has been constructed between the mid-16th century and the late 18th century. Notable people * Johan Capiot (1964), road racing cyclist. *Steve Stevaert Steve Stevaert (; born Robert Stevaert ; 12 April 1954 – 2 April 2015) was a Belgian politician of the Flemish Socialist Party: the Socialistische Partij - Anders, SP.A. Biography Stevaert was born on 12 April 1954, in Rijkhoven. Afte ...
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Bilzen
Bilzen () is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. In 2021, Bilzen had a total population of 32,536. The total area is 75.90 km2 which gives a population density of 426 inhabitants per km2. Bilzen consists of the city of Bilzen and the following villages: Beverst, Eigenbilzen, , , , , , , , Rijkhoven, , and . It was in 1977 that they all became part of the municipality Bilzen because of the fusion of municipalities. Cities in Bilzen's neighbourhood are all within a distance of some 10 to 15 kilometers: to its north, Genk; to its east, Maastricht (Netherlands); to its south Tongeren; and to its north-west, Diepenbeek. From 1965 to 1981 Bilzen hosted Jazz Bilzen, a jazz and rock festival that lasted several days. In its time Jazz Bilzen was the most important Belgian festival. Artists that performed there were, among many others, Humble Pie, The Moody Blues, Dee ...
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Alden Biesen Castle
Alden Biesen is a 16th-century castle in the small village of Rijkhoven, municipality of Bilzen, province of Limburg, Belgium. Present day The castle is used today as a cultural centre and conference centre. Festivals including the Scottish weekend and the International Story Festival are held there. "European Classes" are also held there to foster international learning and student collaboration. The first ever RSPBA Major Pipe Band Championship held outside the UK was the European Pipe Band Championships held there in September 2003. In addition to the moated castle, the complex contains a church and gardens. History The knights of the Teutonic Order founded the ''Landcommanderij Alden Biesen'' ("commandery of Alden Biesen") in the 11th century, but the current buildings were constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was the headquarters of a bailiwick or province of the Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious inst ...
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Steve Stevaert
Steve Stevaert (; born Robert Stevaert ; 12 April 1954 – 2 April 2015) was a Belgian politician of the Flemish Socialist Party: the Socialistische Partij - Anders, SP.A. Biography Stevaert was born on 12 April 1954, in Rijkhoven. After his studies at the "Hoger Rijksinstituut voor Toerisme, Hotelwezen en Voedingsbedrijven", Stevaert started as a bar owner in 1972. Stevaert became politically active in 1982 under the wings of his mentor Willy Claes. Stevaert was elected to the Provincial Council of Limburg from 1985 to 1995. He became mayor and member of the city council of Hasselt in 1995. There he became famous for his policy of zero-fare, free public transport in Hasselt, public transport in 1997, which gave him his nickname "Steve Stunt". Stevaert was also elected to the Flemish parliament in 1995 and was re-elected in 1999 and 2004. Stevaert served as Flemish minister of Public Works, Transport and Spatial planning from 1998 to 1999 and as Flemish minister of Mobility, Tr ...
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Johan Capiot
Johan Capiot (born 12 April 1964) is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist. He was a professional rider from 1986 to 2000. His son Amaury is also a professional cyclist. Major results ;1986 : 1st Stage 3 Danmark Rundt : 2nd Grote Prijs Jef Scherens : 2nd GP de Denain : 3rd Circuit des Frontières : 3rd Paris–Brussels : 3rd Omloop van de Westhoek : 3rd Schaal Sels : 4th Overall Tour de Luxembourg : 4th Scheldeprijs : 8th Brussel–Ingooigem ;1987 : 1st Veenendaal–Veenendaal : 1st Stage 1 Tour de l'Oise : 2nd Brussel–Ingooigem : 5th Le Samyn : 6th GP de Fourmies : 10th Dwars door België ;1988 : 1st Brabantse Pijl : 1st Stages 1 & 5 Tour de Luxembourg : 1st Stage 1 Tour of Belgium : 3rd : 4th Road race, National Road Championships : 5th Circuit des Frontières : 5th GP de Fourmies ;1989 : 1st Brabantse Pijl : 1st Grand Prix de la Libération ( TTT) : 4th Dwars door België : 5th Paris–Brussels : 5th Grote Prijs Raymond Impanis : 5th Ronde va ...
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Flag Of Belgium
The national flag of the Kingdom of Belgium is a Tricolour (flag), tricolour consisting of three equal vertical bands displaying the national colours: black, yellow, and red. The colours were taken from the coat of arms of the Duchy of Brabant, and the vertical design may be based on the flag of France. When flown, the black band is nearest the pole (at the hoist side). It has the unusual proportions of 1315, and therefore, unlike the flags of Switzerland and the Vatican City, it is not a perfect square. In 1830, the flag, at that time non-officially, consisted of three horizontal bands, with the colors red, yellow and black. On 23 January 1831, the National Congress of Belgium, National Congress enshrined the tricolor in the Constitution of Belgium, Constitution, but did not determine the direction and order of the color bands. As a result, the "official" flag was given vertical stripes with the colors black, yellow and red. Previous flags After the death of Charlemagne, the p ...
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Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the south, and the North Sea to the west. Belgium covers an area of and has a population of more than 11.8 million; its population density of ranks List of countries and dependencies by population density, 22nd in the world and Area and population of European countries, sixth in Europe. The capital and Metropolitan areas in Belgium, largest metropolitan region is City of Brussels, Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven. Belgium is a parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a complex Federation, federal system structured on regional and linguistic grounds. The country is divided into three highly autonomous Communities, regions and language areas o ...
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Communities Of Belgium
Belgium is a federation, federal state comprising three communities and three regions that are based on four language areas. For each of these subdivision types, the subdivisions together make up the entire country; in other words, the types overlap. The language areas were established by the History of Belgium#The rise of the federal state, Second Gilson Act, which entered into force on 2 August 1963. The division into language areas was included in the Constitution of Belgium, Belgian Constitution in 1970. Through state reform in Belgium, constitutional reforms in the 1970s and 1980s, regionalism (politics), regionalisation of the unitary state led to a three-tiered federation: federalism, federal, regional, and community governments were created, a compromise designed to minimize linguistic, cultural, social, and economic tensions. Schematic overview This is a schematic overview of the basic federal structure of Belgium as defined by Title I of the Belgian Constitution. Ea ...
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Flemish Community
The Flemish Community (, ) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilities only within the precise geographical boundaries of the Dutch-language area and of the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital. Unlike in the French Community of Belgium,The parliament of the French Community is distinct from the Walloon Parliament; this is more obvious for the parliament of the German-speaking Community because its much smaller territory is within the latter region. the competences of the Flemish Community have been unified with those of the Flemish Region and are exercised by one directly elected Flemish Parliament based in Brussels. History State reforms in Belgium turned the country from a unitary state into a federal one. Cultural communities were the first type of decentralisation in 1970, forming the Dutch, French and German Cultural Community. Later on, in 1980, these became responsible for more cu ...
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Provinces Of Belgium
The Kingdom of Belgium is divided into three Communities, regions, and language areas of Belgium, regions. Two of these regions, Flanders and Wallonia, are each subdivided into five provinces. The third region, Brussels, does not belong to any province, nor is it subdivided into provinces. Instead, it has amalgamated both regional and provincial functions into a single "Capital Region" administration. Most of the provinces take their name from earlier duchy, duchies and county, counties of similar location, while their territory is mostly based on the 130 departments of the First French Empire, departments installed during French annexation. At the time of the Independence of Belgium, creation of Belgium in 1830, only nine provinces existed, including the province of Brabant, which held the City of Brussels. In 1995, Brabant was split into three areas: Flemish Brabant, which became a part of the region of Flanders; Walloon Brabant, which became part of the region of Wallonia; an ...
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Limburg (Belgium)
Limburg (, ; or ; , ), also known as Belgian Limburg, is a province in Belgium. It is the easternmost of the five Dutch language, Dutch-speaking provinces that together form the Flemish Region, Region of Flanders, which is one of the three main Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, political and cultural sub-divisions of modern-day Belgium. As of January 2024, Limburg had a population of 0.9 million. Limburg is located west of the Meuse (), which separates it from the similarly-named Netherlands, Dutch province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. To the south it shares a border with the French-speaking province of Liège Province, Liège, with which it also has historical ties. To the north and west are the old territories of the Duchy of Brabant. Today these are the Flemish provinces of Flemish Brabant and Antwerp (province), Antwerp to the west, and the Dutch province of North Brabant to the north. Historically Belgian Limburg is roughly equivalent to the Dutch-s ...
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Municipalities Of Belgium
Communities, regions, and language areas of Belgium, Belgium comprises 565 municipalities (; ; ), 285 of them grouped into five provinces of Belgium, provinces in Flanders and 261 others in five provinces in Wallonia, while the remaining 19 are in the Brussels, Brussels Capital Region, which is not divided in provinces. In most cases, the municipalities are the smallest administrative subdivisions of Belgium, but in municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, on the initiative of the local council, sub-municipal administrative entities with elected councils may be created. As such, only Antwerp, having over 500,000 inhabitants, became subdivided into Districts of Antwerp, nine districts (). The Belgian Arrondissements of Belgium, arrondissements (; ; ), an administrative level between province (or the capital region) and municipality, or the lowest judicial level, are in English language, English sometimes called districts as well. Lists of municipalities Here are three ...
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County Of Loon
The County of Loon ( , ) was a county in the Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the modern Belgian province of Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloon. During the middle ages the counts moved their court to a more central position in Kuringen, which today forms part of Hasselt, capital of the province. From its beginnings, Loon was associated with the nearby Prince-bishop of Liège, and by 1190 the count had come under the bishop's overlordship. In the fourteenth century the male line ended for a second time, at which point the prince-bishops themselves took over the county directly. Loon approximately represented the Dutch-speaking (archaic ) part of the princedom. All of the Dutch-speaking towns in the Prince-Bishopric, with the status of being so-called " Good Cities" (), were in Loon, and are in Belgian Limburg today. These were Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad ...
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