Poperinge, Belgium

Poperinge
Municipality
Promotional banners welcome visitors to Poperinge's Town Hall and Grote Market
Flag Coat of arms
Poperinge Location in Belgium Location of Poperinge in West Flanders
Coordinates: 50°51′N 02°44′E / 50.850°N 2.733°E / 50.850; 2.733Coordinates: 50°51′N 02°44′E / 50.850°N 2.733°E / 50.850; 2.733
Country	Belgium
Community	Flemish Community
Region	Flemish Region
Province	West Flanders
Arrondissement	Ypres
Government
• Mayor	Christof Dejaegher (CD&V)
• Governing party/ies	CD&V, VLD
Area
• Total	119.33 km2 (46.07 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2016)
• Total	19,755
• Density	170/km2 (430/sq mi)
Postal codes	8970, 8972, 8978
Area codes	057
Website	www.poperinge.be

Poperinge (also spelled Poperinghe in the past) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders, Flemish Region, and has a history going back to medieval times. The municipality comprises the city of Poperinge proper and surrounding villages. The area is famous for its hops and lace.

Poperinge is situated about 8 miles to the west of Ieper/Ypres. The region is famous for growing hops and furnishes 80% of Belgian production. The town is home to the national hops museum and is called the "hops city" - hoppe stad in Dutch, a play on hoofd stad , the word for capital. A triennial hop festival and parade is held in the month of September. The local brew is known as Hommel (which means hops in the West Flanders dialect).

The carillon in the tower of the town's oldest church, Sint-Bertinuskerk, was noted as one of the most beautiful in Flanders in mediaeval times. It was destroyed during warfare in 1677 and restored in 1781.

Poperinge is twinned with

Poperinge is the birthplace of Dirk Frimout, Belgium's first astronaut, after whom the town park is named.

In addition to the town centre of Poperinge, the municipality also comprises the submunicipalities (so-called "deelgemeenten") of Krombeke, Proven, Reningelst, Roesbrugge-Haringe and Watou. The hamlets of Abele and Sint-Jan-Ter-Biezen are also located on the territory, but they do not have the status of "deelgemeente", since they were not independent municipalities before the mergers of municipalities which took place in Belgium in the 1970s.

Roesbrugge-Haringe actually comprises two separate villages, Roesbrugge and Haringe. The hamlet Abele is located on the border with France, and partially lies on French territory.

The municipality borders a large number of rural villages, and because of the long border is also close to a large number of French municipalities.