Tervuren
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- For the breed of dog, see Belgian Shepherd Dog (Tervueren).
Tervuren (older spelling: Tervueren) is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. The municipality comprises the towns of Duisburg, Tervuren proper, Vossem and Moorsel. On January 1st, 2005 Tervuren had a total population of 20,575. The total area is 32.92 km² which gives a population density of 624.96 inhabitants per km².
The official language is Dutch (as everywhere in Flanders), though the language is more commonly referred to as Flemish. Small local minorities consist of nationals from many European Union-countries, USA, the UK and Canada - partly because of the local British School - and of French-speakers that migrated mainly from Wallonia or Brussels.
Tervuren is one of the richest municipalities in Belgium. It is linked to Brussels by a magnificent processional avenue (Tervurenlaan/Avenue de Tervueren) built by king Leopold II in time for the Universal Exhibition of 1897. This interweaves with a combined heritage and commuter tramline. Till 1959 Tervuren was also served by an electric railway, whose disused terminus opposite the Royal Museum for Central Africa is now a pub called the Spoorloos Station (Trackless Station).
History
For centuries people thought that Tervuren is the same place as "Fura", where saint Hubert (Hubertus) died in 727 AD. There is however no historical proof for that.
A document dating from 1213 AD speaks about the wooden fortification that was built by Hendrik I, duke of Brabant. This evolved in the castle of Tervuren, residence of the dukes of Brabant in the 14th and 15th centuries. The castle was demolished in 1782.
Tram 44 which goes from Brussels to Tervuren, and the Royal Museum for Central Africa are both in Tervuren thanks to King Leopold II. It was because of his desire to bring visitors of the world exhibition in 1897 to Tervuren for an exhibition of the Congo.
Culture
Image:Royalmuseumforcentralafrica2004.jpg
The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) is an ethnographical and natural history museum. It focuses mainly on Congo, Belgium's former colony. The sphere of influence however (especially regarding to biological research) extends to the whole Congo River basin, Middle Africa, East Africa and West Africa, but tries to integrate Africa as a whole. First purely intended as a colonial museum, after 1960 it became more focused on ethnography and anthropology. Like in most museums, there is a research department and a public exhibit department. Not all research is pertaining to Africa, for example the research on the archaeozoology of Sagalassos. Some researchers have strong ties with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
Tervuren library (Gemeentelijke Openbare Bibliotheek Tervuren - GOBT) is situated at Vandersandestraat 15, and contains 43,300 printed documents, and 886 DVDs (Data correct for the start of 2005. Reference: Article in January 2006 edition of Presence Francophone Carrefour en Peripherie Bruxelloise). However, due to Flemish regional language laws, at least 75% of the books must be in Flemish, even though the commune contains almost 50% of speakers of other languages.
External links
- Official Tervuren website - Only available in Dutch
- Arboretum of Tervuren - This web site will let you discover one of the jewels of the green crown of Brussels: The Geographic Arboretum of Tervuren.de:Tervuren