X-Nico

40 unusual facts about Belgium


10me Escadrille de Chasse

An overwhelming invasion by the German army left Belgium partially occupied by the end of 1914, with its preserved territory shielded by deliberate defensive flooding at Nieuwpoort by the Belgians.

2011–12 Belgian Hockey League season

The 2011–12 Belgian Hockey League season was the 92nd season of the Belgian Hockey League, the top level of ice hockey in Belgium.

Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium

The Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium is the holder of a diplomatic position within the Catholic Church, who acts as Ambassador of the Holy See to the Belgium.

Aston Martin 2-Litre Sports

This prototype was entered at the 24 Hours race at Spa in 1948 as a way of testing its durability, and the car won the race outright with drivers St. John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson.

Belgian Ambassador to the Holy See

A Belgian Ambassador serves as that country's official representative to the Holy See since formal diplomatic relations began in 1832.

Beter Bed

With the opening of the first Beter Bed store in Olen, Belgium on 29 September 2011, Beter Bed B.V. attempts an expansion into the Belgian market.

Brantano Footwear

The company originated from a small factory run by André Brantegem and his brother in Lede, East Flanders.

Chenogne massacre

The Chenogne massacre refers to a mass execution committed on New Year's Day, January 1, 1945, where German prisoners of war were killed by American forces near the village of Chenogne (also spelled "Chegnogne"), Belgium, thought to be in retaliation for the Malmedy massacre.

An eyewitness account by John Fague of B Company, 21st Armored Infantry Battalion (of the 11th Armored Division), near Chenogne describes the killing of German prisoners by American soldiers.

Claeys Formula

The Claeys Formula is used in Belgium by the practitioners of social law to evaluate the notice period that has to be respected when an employee is dismissed.

Count Harmel

The title was created by King Baudouin for Pierre Harmel, who was a well-known Belgian lawyer, politician and diplomat, and served for eight months as Prime Minister of Belgium.

Europlanetarium Genk

The observatories of Grimbergen and Hove were already operating for many years at that time.

Fernande de Cartier de Marchienne

Ferdinande Louise Marie Ghislaine (Fernande) de Cartier de Marchienne (Suarlée, 23 February 1872-Bruxelles 19 June 1903) was the Belgian mother of Marguerite Yourcenar.

Forest-South railway station

The Forest-South railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Forest in Brussels, Belgium.

Froidchapelle

The Eau d'Heure lakes are situated partly in this municipality and partly in neighbouring Cerfontaine.

Gaston-François de Witte

Gaston-François de Witte (1897-1980) was a Belgian herpetologist who discovered and described at least 24 different species of reptiles.

Hever

Hever, Belgium, a small village in the center of Flanders, Belgium

Hogeschool Gent

There are also campuses in the neighbouring cities of Aalst and Melle.

Hubert Haas

Hubert Haas (23 August 1919 – 1976) was a Belgian writer known for his work in the Walloon language.

Incourt

Incourt, Belgium, a municipality in the province of Walloon Brabant

Institut Redouté-Peiffer

The Institut Pierre-Joseph Redouté gets its name from the painter of roses, a watercolourist born in Saint-Hubert, Belgium in the 18th century.

Jef van de Wiele

Fredegardus Jacobus Josephus (Jef) van de Wiele (Deurne, Belgium, 20 July 1903 - Bruges, 4 September 1979) was a Belgian Flemish Nazi politician.

John B. Macy

The wreck of the Niagara lies in 55 feet of water one mile off Belgium, Wisconsin.

Kent Family Placement Project

At the conclusion of the study, Hazel embarked on another study of her own which focused on Sweden and Belgium.

Mariemont

Mariemont, Belgium, former hunting estate created in 1546 by Queen Mary of Hungary

Martina Violetta Jung

After a number of years in international management positions (Hapag Lloyd, Ahlers LMS, etc.) she founded the company Universal Intelligence in Lier, Belgium.

Meix-le-Tige

Meix-le-Tige (Walloon MS-li-Tîxhe) is a section of the Belgian town of Saint-Léger, located in Wallonia municipality in the province of Luxembourg of Belgium.

Montefiore Institute

The Montefiore Institute is the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of Liège, Belgium.

Neumayer-Station III

The above surface construction of Neumayer III is predominant in the Antarctic, seen at other new stations such as the American Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and the Belgian Princess Elisabeth Base.

Nicolas Chamfort

His good looks and ready wit brought him attention; but, though endowed with immense physical strength—Madame de Craon called him "Hercule sous la figure d'Adonis" — he lived so hard that he was glad to have the opportunity to do a cure at Spa when the Belgian minister in Paris, M. van Eyck, invited Chamfort to accompany him to Germany in 1761.

Oostmalle

There was some talk of using this airfield as an alternative for the Airport in Deurne should it have to close.

R.R.F.C. Montegnée

Royal Racing Football Club Montegnée is a Belgian association football club from the municipality of Saint-Nicolas, Liège.

Ransart

Ransart, Belgium, a former Belgian municipality and now part of the city of Charleroi

Roetgen

Roetgen is located approximately 15 km (9 mi) south-east of Aachen, near the border to Belgium.

RV Belgica

Belgica was and is the name of two Belgian research vessels, with a name derived ultimately from the Latin Gallia Belgica.

SAMCEF

SAMCEF development started in 1965 at the University of Liège and is still developed and sold by SAMTECH, a Belgian company the HQ of which is located in Liège, Belgium.

Stars on the Wall

Stars on the Wall is the second album from Belgian solo act The Go Find, released in 2007 by Morr Music.

Uccle-Calevoet railway station

Trains calling at Uccle-Calevoet are local trains running from Nivelles to Leuven, Braine-l'Alleud to Brussels-North, Nivelles to Antwerp-Central, Châtelet to Schaerbeek and Charleroi-Sud to Antwerp Central.

Warren Muck

Muck and his friend Penkala were killed from a direct hit in their foxhole from German artillery just outside the Belgian town of Foy.

Westkapelle

Westkapelle, Belgium, a town in the municipality of Knokke-Heist in Belgium


1996 European Community Championships

The 1996 European Community Championships was a tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts at the Sportpaleis Antwerp in Antwerp in Belgium and was part of the Championship Series of the 1996 ATP Tour.

Albert Vanhoye

Born on 23 July 1923 at Hazebrouck, France, Albert Vanhoye entered the Society of Jesus in 1941 and studied at Jesuit Scholasticates in France and Belgium, as well as obtaining a licentiate and doctorate in sacred scripture with a thesis on the Letter to the Hebrews, from the Pontifical Biblical Institute (the Biblicum) in Rome.

Béco Dranoff

In 1998, Dranoff co-founded the modern Brazilian music label Ziriguiboom in association with Belgium’s Crammed Discs, launching the international careers of artists Bebel Gilberto, Celso Fonseca, Cibelle, Zuco 103, Trio Mocotó, Bossacucanova, Apollo Nove, DJ Dolores and the late producer Suba.

Belgian media

In Flanders, VRT channels (Eén, Canvas and Ketnet/OP12) had a combined market share of 42.0% in 2012, VMMa channels (VTM, 2BE, Vitaya and vtmKzoom) 28.8%, SBS Belgium channels (VIER and VIJF) 10.5% and Concentra (Acht) 0,5%.

Belgium–Israel relations

In February 2010, a plaque honoring King Albert I, husband of Elizabeth of Bavaria, was unveiled at Albert Square in Tel Aviv in the presence of the Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai and Ambassador Bénédicte Frankinet.

Bullecourt 1917, Jean and Denise Letaille museum

In 2008, the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs wants to upgrade seven sites showing the Australian forces during the First World War (Ypres and Passchendaele in Belgium; Fromelles, Bullecourt, Mont-Saint-Quentin, Pozières and Villers-Bretonneux).

Café liégeois

However during World War I with the Battle of Liège in full swing and Vienna representing the enemy, Paris' cafés started renaming the dessert café liégeois in honour of Belgium's embattled forts.

Clara Immerwahr

His efforts would culminate in his supervision of the first successful deployment of what is nowadays considered as a weapon of mass destruction in military history, in Flanders, Belgium on April 22, 1915.

Dalen Hotel

After its opening in 1894, the hotel drew royal guests from all over Europe, playing host to the likes of King Oscar II of Sweden, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Leopold II of Belgium, King Haakon VII of Norway and his family, and several members of the British aristocracy.

Damir Lesjak

Damir Lesjak (born 31 March 1967) is a former Croatian footballer who played for Dinamo Zagreb, Israeli side Hapoel Haifa and Belgian club Mouscron.

Echo Eggebrecht

Eggebrecht has held solo exhibitions at Horton Gallery, New York; Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York; Ter Caemer Meert Contemporary, Kortijk, Belgium; Sixtyseven, New York and Sixspace in Los Angeles as well as group exhibitions at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; ICA; Nicole Klagsburn; and White Box in New York; Groeflin Maag Gallery in Basel, Switzerland; Poets on Painters at the Ulrich Museum.

Filip Claus

He also made portraits of Belgian politicians such as former Prime Ministers of Belgium Jean-Luc Dehaene and Guy Verhofstadt.

George Ohsawa

They are, in particular, Herman Aihara in California, Roland Yasuhara in Belgium (where LIMA, the well-known manufacturer of macrobiotic products was born), Tomio Kikuchi in Brazil, Clim Yoshimi in France, and Michio Kushi in Massachusetts.

Greater Region of Luxembourg

Common economic problems arising from drastic changes in the industrial and coal mining areas of the four countries have led to the creation of a community of interest and to the development of common projects like the European Development Pole in the cross-border area of Longwy in France, Rodange in Luxembourg and Athus in Belgium.

Greggs

Starting in 2003, in an attempt to test the foreign market, Greggs opened a total of ten stores in Belgium; principally in Antwerp and Leuven.

Horse goddess

Góntia, a Celtic moon goddess, considered a horse goddess by the Cantii, the Cantabri and the Ghent in Belgium.

Hugh S. Gibson

He was thus present in the London office of American Ambassador Walter Hines Page when Page and representatives of Belgium persuaded Herbert Hoover to set aside his engineering activities in order to organize food relief for occupied Belgium.

International Meteorological Organization

Adolphe Quetelet, director of the Royal Observatory of Belgium and general secretary of the Academie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts with Victor Lahure, navy captain and general director of the Navy, represented Belgium.

Ivan Karizna

He had numerous performances in other countries of the world including Belgium, Great Britain, the Netherlands, the United States and France where he played at such concert halls as Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Parisian City of Music and Salle Pleyel as well as Brussels's Centre for Fine Arts where he performed together with a pianist Eliane Reyes.

Jacopo Foroni

After studies with Alberto Mazzucato in Milan Foroni worked as a conductor in France, Belgium and Holland before arriving in Sweden in 1849 to work for Vincenzo Galli's opera company at the Mindre teatern where he gave the Swedish premieres of works by Bellini and Donizetti as well as the young Verdi.

Jacopo Godani

He has also pursued studies at the Fine Arts High School of Carrara and was accepted to further his studies at Maurice Béjart's international dance centre, Mudra in Bruxelles, Belgium.

Joël Prévost

Born in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France, Prévost was adopted soon after birth by a family from northern France, renamed Jean-Luc Potaux, and grew up at Trith-Saint-Léger, close to the border with Belgium.

Joint Research Centre

The JRC has seven scientific institutes, located at six different sites in Belgium (Brussels and Geel), Germany (Karlsruhe), Italy (Ispra), the Netherlands (Petten) and Spain (Seville), with a wide range of laboratories and unique research facilities.

Juan Manuel Asensi

He was picked for the squads at the 1978 World Cup and UEFA Euro 1980 – his last international was played in the latter competition, also against Belgium (and also 1–2 defeat) – and also competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Keiji Ozaki

He lost to Jessy Petit-Jean in a fight for the WKN World Lightweight Kickboxing Championship on November 17, 2012 in Liege, Belgium.

Laurensberg

Beyond the German border, the district borders the Belgian town of Kelmis, in the Province of Liège, as well as the Dutch communities of Vaals, Wittem and Simpelveld, all contained with the Dutch Province of Limburg.

Laurent Wéry

Laurent Wéry released his first solo single "My Sound" on 14 February 2009, the song reached number 20 in Belgium.

Liesbeth List

In 1965, the duo was awarded the Europe Cup for Best Singing Performance in Knokke, Belgium.

Luc Grethen

There he studied composition, orchestration and conducting at the capital conservatory, as well as oboe and English horn at the Strasbourg and Mons (Belgium) conservatories.

Macrodontopteryx

If Macrodontopteryx is indeed a distinct genus, perhaps some pseudotooth bird fossils found in Lutetian (Middle Eocene, MP11-13, about 45 Ma) deposits at Etterbeek (Belgium) belong therein.

Maria of Swabia

Sometime before 22 August 1215, she married as his first wife Henry, heir to the Duchy of Brabant (present-day Belgium) and Lothier.

Maurice Seynaeve

Maurice Seynaeve (Heule (near Kortrijk) Belgium, 31 January 1907 - Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires Argentina, 28 November 1998) was a Belgian Cyclo-cross rider in the years 1928-1940.

Morgnshtern

In 1937 Morgnshtern had prepared a delegation to take part in the Workers Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, but the Polish government refused to give travel visas to the athletes.

Nariné Simonian

She has also given concerts in Russia, Belgium, Switzerland (in Bulle, at Saint-Pierre des des Liens) where she has a recorded a CD, in Finland, at Kiev (Ukraine in 2003 with Dominique de Williencourt and in November 2008 at the Organ Hall), in North America (New York on 1 November 1998, at the Armenian Evangelical Church of New York, in Montreal and in South America in 1997, along with Olivier Latry (Argentina, Uruguay at the Festival Internacional del Uruguay Órgano,.

Noville

Noville, Belgium : Noville or Noville-lez-Bastogne (en wallon Noveye-dilé-Bastogne) is a section of the Belgian town of Bastogne in the Walloon Region in the province of Luxembourg.

PCC streetcar

The PCC technology was exported to Europe, with La Brugeoise et Nivelles (now the BN division of Bombardier) of Bruges, Belgium, building several hundred streetcars that saw service in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, The Hague, Saint-Étienne, Marseille and Belgrade (the latter city buying vehicles initially used by the Belgian Vicinal railways).

Pierre Goldschmidt

Mr. Pierre Goldschmidt, a Belgian nuclear scientist, retired June, 2005, as Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards at the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA), succeeded by Olli Heinonen.

Plague Recordings

Artists included Maarten van der Vleuten (Netherlands), Scanner (UK), The Caretaker (UK/Germany), vidnaObmana (Belgium), Moljebka Pvlse (Sweden), Ondo (Sweden), Machinist & Mendel Kaelen (Netherlands).

Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium

Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium, Lady Moncada (Marie-Esméralda Adelaide Lilian Anna Léopoldine, born 30 September 1956, Laeken, Belgium) is a member of the Belgian Royal Family.

Psyko Punkz

The two are signed to the Belgian record label Dirty Workz, where they have been regularly releasing tracks since the year 2008.

Quatre Bras

More specifically it refers to the crossroad of the Charleroi-Brussels road (currently named N5) and the Nivelles-Namur road South of Genappe in Wallonia, Belgium.

Raoul Weiler

Raoul Weiler (Anderlecht (Belgium) 20 October 1938) is President of the EU-Chapter of The Club of Rome.

Roberto Sabatino Lopez

There he met his future wife, Claude-Anne Kirschen, a wartime refugee from Belgium who had come to New York with her family in 1940.

Signal de Botrange

The average and extreme temperatures are usually lower than at any other place in Belgium: the minimum temperature recorded (-25.6 °C) does not, however, exceed the absolute record (-30.1 °C ), observed in the valley of the Lomme, at Rochefort during a temperature inversion phenomenon.

Staf Van Reet

He obtained a degree of engineering in Applied Biological Sciences and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) and a Law degree from the University of Antwerp (Antwerp, Belgium).

Vicinal

Vicinal tramway or Buurtspoor, a system of narrow gauge tramways or local railways in Belgium.

William Inglis

The same year, Inglis and his men were also briefly detached to a failed expedition to Brittany, but by the time the campaign had faltered in the winter of 1794, Ingis was back in Belgium.

Wu Qian

In October 2009, Qian represented China in the Europalia festival performing Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Brussels Philharmonic in a tour of Belgium under Carlos Kalmar.

Zakaria Bakkali

After Bakkali's superb Champions League-debut, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots selected him in the 25-man squad in the friendly-game against France.