Last modified: 2002-11-30 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Harelbeke]](../images/b/be-vwvha.gif)
by Ivan Sache
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Harelbeke (26,000 inhabitants) is located in the arrondissement of Kortrijk, in the south-west of the Province of West Flanders, 5 km of Kortrijk, 40 km of Ghent, 20 km of Roeselare, 30 km of Lille (France) and 60 km of the North Sea.
The current municipality of Harelbeke (2,912 ha) was formed in
1977 by the merging of the former municipalities of Harelbeke,
Bavikhove and Hulst. Stasegem is also part of the municipality of
Harelbeke but was never an independent municipality.
The name of Harelbeke comes from the Germanic word haru,
diminutive harula, which means 'sandy hill ridge'. The small
river known as Arendsbeek has its bed in the sand and flows
into the Leie under the Market Place of Harelbeke.
Harelbeke became an important city around 1040, when Count
Boudewijn V of Flanders established a chapter in the St. Saviour
Church (Sint Salvatorskerk).After an administrative
reorganization of the County of Flanders, Harelbeke was the capital
city of a canton (roede) in 1071.
Bavikhove is also a Germanic toponym. In 1120, a parchment roll
called Rotulus Harlebecensis mentioned Villa
Bavinghova, the farm of Bavo people.
Hulst dates back to Charlemagne, who gave around 800 to Liederik II
of Harelbeke an abbey located near a holly (hulst) wood.
Due to its geographical location, Harelbeke has always been an important trade and industry center. Its municipal market was founded in 1264. Harelbke is located on the river Leie and very close to the Scheldt-Leie and Roeselare-Leie canals. The city is crossed by the ancient Ghent-Kortrijk road, built in XVIIIth century, and is close to the E17 highway, inaugurated in 1971. The railway station was built at the end of the XIXth century. At that time, several 'pendular' workers took the train to go to the north of France.
Harelbeke is the birth city of the musician Peter Benoit (1834-1901), violonist, composer and conducer, who directed the Royal Flemish Academy of Music in Antwerp; the biker Dirk Demol (1959), who won the cyclist race Paris-Roubaix in 1988; the cartoonist O-Sekoer (1955), a.k.a. Luc Descheemaeker, whose pseudonym is the Flemish transliteration of Au secours, in French 'help'; the tennisman Xavier Malisse (1980); and the walker Willye Delrue (1940), who has been walking at least 20 km per day since more than 20 years and reached a total of 100,000 km in 1997.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 5 October 2002