Wevelgem is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Gullegem, Moorsele and Wevelgem proper. On January 1, 2006, Wevelgem had a total population of 31,020. The total area is 38.76 km² which gives a population density of 800 inhabitants per km².

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Dutch. (July 2014) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Dutch article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 916 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Dutch Wikipedia article at [[:nl:Wevelgem]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|nl|Wevelgem}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Wevelgem
Municipality
Wevelgem town hall
Flag Coat of arms
Wevelgem Location in Belgium Location of Wevelgem in West-Flanders
Coordinates: 50°48′N 03°10′E
Country	Belgium
Community	Flemish Community
Region	Flemish Region
Province	West Flanders
Arrondissement	Kortrijk
Government
• Mayor	Jan Seynhaeve (CD&V)
• Governing party/ies	CD&V, independent
Area
• Total	38.76 km2 (14.97 sq mi)
Population  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	31,412
• Density	810/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
Postal codes	8560
Area codes	056
Website	www.wevelgem.be

You can reach Wevelgem by road (E403 – A19 – R8), by boat (De Leie), by air (Kortrijk-Wevelgem International Airport) or by train at Wevelgem railway station.

Wevelgem is known for the annual Gent–Wevelgem bicycle road race which finishes in the town.

History

The earliest known mention dates from 1197.^{[citation needed]} Wevelgem was home to the Cistercian[2] Guldenberg Abbey in the 13th–14th centuries, which owned grain mills in various locations.[3] From c. 1278 to 1310, abbess Ida was in charge,[4] though Marc Brion lists it as an abbey for men.[2]

In the old days, the river De Leie was important for Wevelgem. The people used the river to soak flax, before they processed it in one of the many flax factories in Wevelgem. That is also the reason De Leie got the nickname The Golden River, referring to the colour of the flax. Because selling flax was lucrative, many people came to Wevelgem and stayed there for many generations. Nowadays, the cultivation of flax is less important, but some factories still process it.

During the First World War, the Germans constructed an airport. The airport still exists and is now used for private purposes. Also remaining is the German Military cemetery, which is also partly situated in Menen. There are 47,864 soldiers buried there, who all died during WW1. This makes the cemetery the biggest German cemetery in Belgium. Across the cemetery, there used to be a (fake) airport, with wooden planes to mislead the enemy; there are still remains of the airport consisting of a big bunker and a small bunker near the railway. The bridge that connects Lauwe to Wevelgem was destroyed during the Second World War and was rebuilt later.

Notable people

• Annelien Coorevits, Miss Belgium 2007
• Justine De Jonckheere, Miss Belgium 2011
• Steak Number Eight, rock band founded in 2007, broke through in the same year
• Dag Otto Lauritzen, Norwegian former cyclist, lived in Gullegem whilst active
• Aagje Vanwalleghem, gymnast, qualified for the finals of the Olympic Games 2004
• Steven Vanackere, (Dutch: [ˈsteːvə(n) vɑnˈɑkərə]), Flemish politician was born in Wevelgem
• Jean-Claude Van Geenberghe, Belgian-Ukrainian equestrian lived in Moorsele

Gallery

• 
  Sint-Theresia's Church near Wevelgem.
• 
  Guldenberg Abbey of Wevelgem in 1641.
• 
  Military cemetery in Moorsele.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wevelgem.

• Official website (in Dutch)

На других языках

[de] Wevelgem

[ru] Вевелгем