Tervuren () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

in the province of

Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( nl, Vlaams-Brabant ; french: Brabant flamand ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hain ...

, in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

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 ...

. The municipality comprises the villages of

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in ...

, Tervuren, Vossem and

Moorsel Moorsel is a village in the Denderstreek in the province East Flanders in Belgium, a ''deelgemeente'' of the city of Aalst. The village belongs to a league of neighbouring villages, which call themselves the ''Faluintjesgemeenten''. Moorsel is ...

. On January 1, 2006, Tervuren had a total

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 20,636. The total

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an op ...

is 32.92 km², which gives it a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

of 627 inhabitants per km². The official language of Tervuren is

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 ...

. Local minorities consist primarily of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

speakers and nationals of many countries of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

, the USA, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The reason for this diverse mix of nationalities is the presence of

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

workers and their families working in and around

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 ...

, usually either for the European Union,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

or for

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

s. The

British School of Brussels British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

has been located in Tervuren since 1970. Tervuren is also home of the English speaking St. Paul's Church, part of the

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

Tervuren is one of the richest municipalities in Belgium. It is linked to Brussels by a large processional avenue,

Tervurenlaan The () or () is a major thoroughfare in Brussels, Belgium. It was originally commissioned by King Leopold II as part of his building campaign, and was finished in 1897, in time for the Brussels International Exhibition of that year. Geogra ...

, built by king Leopold II for the Universal Exhibition of 1897. This interweaves with a combined heritage and commuter tramline. Until 1959, Tervuren was also served by an electric railway, whose disused terminus opposite the Royal Museum for Central Africa became a pub named the ''Spoorloos Station'' (Trackless Station), currently named "Bar des Amis".

History

For centuries people thought that Tervuren was the same place as "Fura", where Saint Hubert (Hubertus) died in 727 AD. There is, however, no historical proof of this, and recent scholarship locates "Fura" in

Voeren 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 ...

/Fourons, between

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

and

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far fro ...

. A document dating from 1213 AD proves the presence of

Henry I, Duke of Brabant Henry I ( nl, Hendrik, french: Henri; c. 1165 – 5 September 1235), named "The Courageous", was a member of the House of Reginar and first duke of Brabant from 1183/84 until his death. Early life Henry was possibly born in Leuven (Louvai ...

, possibly in a wooden fortification. This evolved into the castle of Tervuren, the residence of the dukes of Brabant in the 14th and 15th centuries. The castle was demolished in 1782 under

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

. Tram 44, which travels between Brussels (Montgomery) and Tervuren (and the Royal Museum for Central Africa) exists because of Leopold II's desire to bring visitors from around the world to his 1897 exhibition of the

Congo Free State ''(Work and Progress) , national_anthem = Vers l'avenir , capital = Vivi Boma , currency = Congo Free State franc , religion = Catholicism (''de facto'') , leader1 = Leop ...

Culture

The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) is an

ethnographical Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

and natural history

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

. It focuses mainly on the Congo, Belgium's former

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

. However, some aspects (especially regarding to biological research) extend to the whole of the

Congo River basin The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

Middle Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Eq ...

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

and

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

. It was at first intended purely as a colonial museum, but after 1960 it became more focused on ethnography and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. Like in most museums, there is both a research department and a public exhibit department. Despite its name, not all research pertains to Africa. For example, there is research going on into the

archaeozoology Zooarchaeology (sometimes called archaeozoology), also known as faunal analysis, is a branch of archaeology that studies remains of animals from archaeological sites. Faunal remains are the items left behind when an animal dies. These include bon ...

Sagalassos Sagalassos ( el, Σαγαλασσός), also known as Selgessos ( el, Σελγησσός) and Sagallesos ( el, Σαγαλλησός), is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya (ancient Attaleia) and 30& ...

. Some researchers have strong ties with the

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium (french: Muséum des sciences naturelles de Belgique, nl, Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen van België) is a museum dedicated to natural history, located in Brussels, Belgium. The museum is a part of t ...

. The museum is surrounded by gardens, with the biggest

giant redwood ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

in Flanders, and a large park with lakes. St Hubert Chapel is located at the west end of the park. Tervuren Library (Gemeentelijke Openbare Bibliotheek Tervuren - GOBT) is situated at ''Markt 7''. It contains around 43,300 printed documents, and 886 DVDs.

Education

Anhonie Crussens - Hunters resting on the board of a river in front of Tervuren Castle near Brussels

The Gemeentelijke Basisschool Tervuren has a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

and a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. The Heilig Hartcollege (HHC) Tervuren has a primary school as well. It also has a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. The Koninklijke Atheneum Tervuren (KAT) is a primary and grammar school. There is also the GITO, a secondary technical school. The

has been located in Tervuren since 1970. There are also several alternative schools including the Kristoffel Steiner Schoolwww.steinerschooltervuren.be
/ref> (originally for children 2.5 to 6 years and now introducing primary school education). The Steiner method of teaching is subsidised by the Government and follows the curriculum from the Federation of Steiner Schools in Flanders; Dutch speaking but encompasses and accommodates children from different nationalities.

Twin towns

Tervuren is twinned with Dachau,

Oosterbeek Oosterbeek is a village in the eastern part of Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Renkum in the province of Gelderland, about west of Arnhem. The oldest part of Oosterbeek is the Benedendorp (Lower Village), on the northern bank o ...

(in

Renkum Renkum () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in and has a land area of . Renkum is situated along the river Rhine. The municipality Renkum is part of the ''Stadsregio'' (English: City reg ...

) and

Kloster Lehnin Kloster Lehnin, or just Lehnin, is a municipality in the German state of Brandenburg. It lies about west-south-west of Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It ...

References

External links