Dendermonde

Dendermonde is a city in East Flanders. The small-sized city has about 45,000 inhabitants. It is strategically located between the bigger cities of Ghent (Gent), Mechelen and Brussels. Dendermonde is located at the mouth of the river Dender, where it flows into the Scheldt.

Understand

Otto II built a fort here in the 10th century, encouraging further settlements in the area. The town received its city charter in 1233 and grew quickly after that thanks to a thriving cloth industry. Several cloisters, chapels and churches, and a fortified defensive wall were built as well. A cloth hall and belfry were erected on the market square in the mid 14th century. The town’s prosperity, however, gave rise to severe competition with cities such as Ghent and to occasional attacks and plunders by neighbours. In 1384, the whole area came under the control of the Valois dukes of Burgundy.

The 16th century saw a decline in Dendermonde’s fortunes. In 1572 Spanish troops took over the city, looted and mostly destroyed it. In 1667, it was France’s turn to advance on the city, but the allied troops of the Netherlands and England caused the heaviest damage in 1706. The city was then fortified by the Austrians against further French ambitions.

The second half of the 18th century was generally prosperous, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution and a local cotton industry.

The onset of World War I in September 1914 was disastrous for the city as more than half of its housing and the city archives were either bombed or burned down.

See

• ⊙ Market Square (Grote Markt). As the main square of the city this square functioned as the main meeting and social point of the city for several ages. The city hall and the city museum are located right on this square.
• ⊙ Belfry (Belfort), Grote Markt 37. One of the 56 belfries in Flanders recognized as UNESCO World Heritage sites. The belfry houses a carillon and was formerly part of the Cloth Hall.
• ⊙ The Church of Our Lady (Dutch: Onze Lieve-Vrouwekerk) with two paintings of Anthony Van Dyck.
• ⊙ The béguinage is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998.
• Dendemonde has a ⊙ Benedictine abbey, famous for its library containing an original manuscript of Hildegard of Bingen, called the 'Dendermonde Codex'.