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Kluisbergen (Municipality, Province of East Flanders, Belgium)

Municipal flag of Kluisbergen - Image by Filip van Laenen, 17 October 2001

Presentation of Kluisebergen and its villages
Municipal flag of Kluisbergen

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Presentation of Kluisbergen and its villages

The municipality of Kluisbergen (6,258 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 3,038 ha) is located in the Flemish Ardennes, 20 km south-east of Kortrijk, on the border with West Flanders and Hainaut, and therefore on the linguistic border between Dutch and French. The border is marked by the Kluisberg / Mont de l'Enclus hill (141 m asl) and the Kluisbos wood (2/3 in Flanders and 1/3 in Wallonia), and there are two municipalities named after the hill, Kluisbergen in Flanders and Mont-de-l'Enclus in Wallonia. The municipality of Kluisbergen was formed in 1976 by the merging of the former municipalities of Berchem, Kwaremont, Ruien and Zulzeke.

Berchem (643 ha) appeared as a domain in the XIIth century and remained so until the French Revolution. It once included 17 villages; in the XIVth century, it was made of the villages of Berchem, Etikhove, Kerkem, Kwaremont, Marke, Melden, Nukerke and Zulzeke. Berchem is today the administrative seat and trade center of the municipality of Kluisbergen.

Kwaremont (852 ha, lit., "the square mount") formed, together with Ruien and Zulzeke, a domain depending on the lords of Berchem. Gallo-Roman cemetaries with pottery and coins were found around the village. Since the beginning of the XXth century, Kwaremont has attracted several artists, therefore its nickname of Artists' Village. The paved roads climbing the Oud Kwaremont (2,200 m, 1,500 m paved, average slope 3-4% but 10% in the beginning) and the Paterberg (350m, maximum slope 23%) are two strategic places of the cyclist Tour of Flanders. In 1974, the Old Kwaremont road replaced the Kwaremont road, deemed too easy to climb, as the first "serious" hill in the race; the next year, it was the starting point of one of the most stunning of Eddy Mercx's victories. Kwaremont has a street named after the race, the Ronde Van Vlaanderenstraat, with a monument dedicated to the journalist from the Het Nieuwsblad Karel Van Wijnendaele (Karel Steyaert, 1882-1961), the founder of the race.

Ruien (1,006 ha, including 300 ha covered by the Kluisbos wood) belonged, together with the Kluisberg, to the dommain of Calmont / Callenberg. Excavations made on the Kluisberg yielded Prehistoric (an urn from the Hilversum culture, flints from the Age of Bronze) and Gallo-Roman artifacts. There was probably a Gallo-Roman way going through Ruien. The power plant of Ruien is the biggest "classic" plant of Belgium.

Zulzeke (562 ha) is the smallest component of Kluisbergen. The stone windmill Ten Hotond is built on the higest point of East Flanders (171 m asl).

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 7 August 2007

Municipal flag of Kluisbergen

The municipal flag of Kluisbergen is quartered black-white-yellow-blue.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 31 March 1987, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 9 May 1989 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 8 November 1989.
The four parts of the flag symbolize the four components of the municipality, while the colours come from their arms (Berchem, black and white; Ruien, blue, yellow and white; Zulzeke, blue and yellow, Kwaremont did not have arms).

The coat of arms of Kluisbergen has the same colours. It is shown on the municipal website and described as:
Gedeeld 1. In lazuur een dwarsbalk van goud, vergezeld van drie wassenaars van zilver 2. In sabel een jachthoorn van zilver, gemond en beslagen van goud, gesnoerd van keel, en een schildhoofd van goud (Per pale, azure a fess or cantonned with three crescents argent 2 and 1, sable a hunting horn argent garnished gules a chief or).

Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 7 August 2007