Woluwe-Saint-Lambert


Woluwe-Saint-Lambert or Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe is one of the nineteen municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It is a prosperous residential area, with a mixture of flats and detached, semi-detached and terraced houses, often compared with Uccle, another affluent Brussels municipality, and the 14th or 17th arrondissement in Paris.
In common with all the Brussels municipalities, it is legally bilingual. In French it is often spelt Woluwé-Saint-Lambert with an acute accent on the first 'e' to reflect the Frenchified pronunciation of what was originally a Dutch place name, but the official spelling is without an accent.
The neighbouring municipality of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre also lies within the Brussels-Capital Region, while the former municipality of Sint-Stevens-Woluwe has been merged with three other municipalities to form the municipality of Zaventem, which is in the province of Flemish Brabant in Flanders.

Geography

Woluwe hosts the medical faculties of the University of Louvain and its hospital, the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc on the UCLouvain Brussels Woluwe campus, and several shopping areas, notably the Avenue Georges Henri and the Woluwe Shopping Centre. Some of the municipality's major roads are named after prominent 20th-century Belgian statesmen, such as the prestigious Avenue de Broqueville/de Broquevillelaan and Avenue Paul Hymans/Paul Hymanslaan. Line 1 of the Brussels metro runs under these roads.
The Woluwe River flows through the municipality.

History

Medieval origins

Several archaeological finds on the territory of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert show traces of human activity during the Bronze Age. The first historical mention of the village, however, dates from the 11th century, when some of the forested land near the Woluwe River was cleared for farming. A church was built and dedicated to Saint Lambert, the 7th-century bishop of Maastricht who was martyred in Liège. At the end of the 12th century, the rights to the parish of Saint Lambert were given to the canons of the chapter of St. Michael and Gudula in Brussels. Various charitable organizations and hospitals then started acquiring land in this area. Throughout the Middle Ages, Woluwe was part of the Duchy of Brabant, governed under the usual feudal arrangement of those times. Among the Dukes' vassals were some powerful local lords and landowners. Some of Woluwe's territory also belonged to the powerful Forest Abbey and Park Abbey.

16th century to present

Up until recently, the village was mostly rural, focusing mainly on agriculture. Starting in the 16th century, affluent nobles and clergymen from Brussels built châteaux in Woluwe, some of which are still visible today. True urbanization, however, started only around 1900. Well-to-do neighbourhoods, which included some of the novel architectural styles of the Belle Epoque such as Art Nouveau then Art Deco, straddled the newly built Boulevard Brand Whitlock/Brand Whitlocklaan.
The population of the municipality increased very quickly at this time. It rose from 1,649 inhabitants in 1880 to 8,883 inhabitants 30 years later. By 1960 there were 36,960 people in the municipality, and since 1970 the population has been stable at around 47,000.
Today, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert is still mostly a residential area, attracting rich and poor inhabitants from neighbouring Brussels.

Sights

Shopping

Woluwe-Saint-Lambert has many shopping streets around the Tomberg and Gribaumont metro stations. Around Roodebeek station is one of Brussels' largest shopping centres, the Woluwe Shopping Centre. The shopping centre opened in 1968 and has 2 floors and a surface area of around 97000 m2. Woluwe Shopping Centre serves most of East Brussels

Transport

Woluwe-Saint-Lambert is served by the Brussels Metro Line 1 and is served by the following stations: Josephine-Charlotte, Gribaumont, Tomberg, Roodebeek, Vandervelde, Alma and Crainhem/Kraainem. Despite not having any rail connections, the E40 Motorway runs through the commune as well as many bus routes. Since 2018, tram 94 is extended from Trammuseum to Roodebeek and has been renamed as tram 8.

Education

In 1974, following the Leuven crisis, the University of Louvain moved its faculties of the Sector of Medical Sciences to the commune, creating Brussels' second largest campus, UCLouvain Bruxelles Woluwe, with more than 14,000 students. It also founded a new hospital on site, the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc. The site includes a number of other educational institutions, like the Haute école Léonard de Vinci or the EPHEC.
Schools include:

Twin towns — Sister cities

Woluwe-Saint-Lambert is twinned with: