Meulebeke

Welcome to Meulebeke, the village where I grew up, located in the province of West-Flanders, as the name says: in the West of Belgium.

In this little corner of my website you can find both information and pictures. The information certainly isn't complete, but you get a pretty rough idea of what Meulebeke looks like and what you can do here. Some of the pictures have been taken with a digital camera and are low-quality. But I hope the image is clear enough.

For more information, you can check out Meulebeke's official website: www.meulebeke.be. It offers a lot of interesting information, but is only written in Dutch.

I was interviewed by the local newspaper De Weekbode (The Weekly Messenger) about my Meulebeke website. The article and picture were published on Friday 7 February 2003. You can see it below and click the images for a larger (and readable) version. The article is in Dutch but you can download a translation in Word here.

General information:

• There are 10970 inhabitants in Meulebeke (January 2005).
• The surface is: 2935 ha
• The village is divided in 4 parishes: the Centre of the village, Marialoop, Het Veld and De Paanders.
  Each one of them has a church and a kindergarden and primary school. The church and school of the Centre are the biggest, you can also take the first 2 years of high school there.
• Meulebeke used to have 2 wind mills: the Bosterhout mill was demolished because it was too dilapidated, but the Herent mill still exists. It was built in 1956 with parts from other mills.
• The world-famous Karel Van Mandere (1548-1609) was born in Meulebeke. He was a painter, but most importantly he was the author of the very first book about art history: "Schilderboek" ("Painter's book"). His birth house still exists and was bought by a local artist who is refurbishing it.