Woluwe-Saint-Pierre Woluwe-Saint-Pierre (French) Sint-Pieters-Woluwe (Dutch) |
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Municipality | |||
Woluwe Saint-Pierre’s town hall
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Location in Belgium | |||
Coordinates: 50°50′N 04°28′E / 50.833°N 4.467°ECoordinates: 50°50′N 04°28′E / 50.833°N 4.467°E | |||
Country | Belgium | ||
Community |
Flemish Community French Community |
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Region | Brussels | ||
Arrondissement | Brussels | ||
Government | |||
• Mayor | Willem Draps (MR) | ||
Area | |||
• Total | 8.85 km2 (3.42 sq mi) | ||
Population (1 January 2016) | |||
• Total | 41,207 | ||
• Density | 4,700/km2 (12,000/sq mi) | ||
Postal codes | 1150 | ||
Area codes | 02 | ||
Website | www.woluwe1150.be |
Woluwe-Saint-Pierre (French pronunciation: [wolywe sɛ̃ pjɛːʁ]) or Sint-Pieters-Woluwe (Dutch, pronounced [sɪnt ˈpitərs ˈʋoːlyʋə]) is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It is mostly a well-to-do residential area, which includes the wide, park-lined, Avenue de Tervueren and the numerous embassies located near the Montgomery Square. Of the three rivers that once crossed the municipality, only the Woluwe, a tributary of the Senne, can still largely be seen today.
The first appearance of the name Wolewe dates from 1117 and can be found in a charter from Forest (Vorst in Dutch). At that time, the original hamlet and its farms were dependencies of the abbey of Park near Leuven. The onset of difficulties can be traced to the middle of the 16th century, with the hostilities waged by Philip II of Spain against the heretical Protestants and the ensuing poverty and famine took their toll on the entire population. Safety and prosperity returned under the reigns of Archdukes Albert and Isabella at the beginning of the 17th century. The first highway linking Tervuren to Brussels, then known as the “Street of the Duke”, dates from that period.