Wavre

Wavre
Municipality
The church of St John the Baptist in Wavre
Flag Coat of arms
Wavre Location in Belgium
Location of Wavre in Walloon Brabant
Coordinates: 50°43′N 04°36′E / 50.717°N 4.600°E / 50.717; 4.600Coordinates: 50°43′N 04°36′E / 50.717°N 4.600°E / 50.717; 4.600
Country	Belgium
Community	French Community
Region	Wallonia
Province	Walloon Brabant
Arrondissement	Nivelles
Government
• Mayor	Charles Michel (LB)
• Governing party/ies	LB
Area
• Total	41.80 km2 (16.14 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2016)
• Total	33,806
• Density	810/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
Postal codes	1300, 1301
Area codes	010
Website	www.wavre.be

Wavre (French pronunciation: ​[wavʁ], Dutch: Waver) is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, of which it is the capital.

Wavre is in the Dyle valley. Most inhabitants speak French as their mother tongue and are called "Wavriens" and "Wavriennes". The municipality includes the sub-municipalities of Limal and Bierges.

Wavre is also called "the City of the Maca", referring to the statue of the small boy who tries to climb the wall of the city hall. Tradition holds that touching the Maca's buttocks brings a year of luck.

The foundations of a wealthy Roman villa were found very close to Wavre, complete with a portico and many rooms. This part of Gaul, however, was ravaged by the Germanic invasions in the 3rd and 4th century, and it is only in the year 1050 that Wavre was mentioned for the first time, as a dependency of the County of Leuven, part of the Brabant pagus. The chapel built by the counts near the former Gallo-Roman villa was ceded to the Affligem Abbey a few years later. By the 13th century a market already existed in the budding town built at the crossroads of the Brussels-Namur and Nivelles-Leuven roads. In 1222, Duke Henry I of Brabant granted the town its city charter. At around the same time, the Affligem Abbey expanded its Wavre possessions into a priory, which attracted pilgrims from a wide region around the city.