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Uccle (French) Ukkel (Dutch)
Municipality
Town Hall
Flag Coat of arms
Uccle (French) Ukkel (Dutch) Location in Belgium Uccle municipality in the Brussels-Capital Region
Coordinates: 50°48′N 04°20′E / 50.800°N 4.333°E / 50.800; 4.333Coordinates: 50°48′N 04°20′E / 50.800°N 4.333°E / 50.800; 4.333
Country	Belgium
Community	Flemish Community French Community
Region	Brussels
Arrondissement	Brussels
Government
• Mayor	Boris Dilliès (fr), (MR)
Area
• Total	22.91 km2 (8.85 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2017)[1]
• Total	82,307
• Density	3,600/km2 (9,300/sq mi)
Postal codes	1180
Area codes	02
Website	www.uccle.be

Uccle (French pronunciation: ​[ykl]) or Ukkel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɵkəl] ( listen)) is one of the 19 municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. In common with all the Brussels municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch).

History

Uccle map of 1777

According to legend, Uccle's church of St. Peter was dedicated by Pope Leo III in the year 803, with Charlemagne and Gerbald, Bishop of Liège, attending the ceremony. During the following centuries, several noble families built their manors and took residency here. The first mention of the name Woluesdal, now evolved into Wolvendael, dates from 1209. In 1467, Isabella of Portugal, wife of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy founded a Franciscan convent on Uccle's territory. Later, Uccle became the judiciary capital of the area including Brussels. Throughout the early stages of its history, however, the village of Uccle always had a predominantly rural character and lived mostly from the products of forestry and agriculture.

At the end of the 18th century, a few years after the French Revolution, Uccle merged with neighbouring territories to become a commune, with its own mayor and municipal assembly. It had to wait until 1828, however, for the Dutch authorities to allow the construction of the first town hall. This was a time of economic prosperity and growth, stimulated by the proximity to the two main roads linking Brussels to the industrial south. A newer and larger town hall was built between 1872 and 1882. Banker and philanthropist Georges Brugmann contributed a lot to the urbanisation of the city just before the turn of the 20th century. In the early 20th century, Michel van Gelder introduced a new breed of chicken, the d'Uccle, named after the town. Despite the accelerated rate of construction that took place in the early 20th century, Uccle succeeded in keeping several of its green areas intact, which now attract many of the Brussels area's wealthier inhabitants.

Lying beyond Forest and Ixelles and skirting the Sonian Forest, Uccle is Brussel's largest and most southerly commune. Large, 19th-century detached houses with generous gardens make this green and calm suburb a favourite with well-off expatriates, with the Art Deco area around the Royal Observatory and the fringes of the Sonian Forest the two most desirable addresses.

Main sights

• Uccle is mainly a residential area but has a lot of parks and forested areas, such as the Wolvendael Park and the Verrewinkel Woods. Wolvendael is the site of a 1763 castle, owned by a number of notable aristocrats from the 18th and 19th centuries.


• The municipality is also situated to the immediate west of the Bois de la Cambre (Dutch: Ter Kamerenbos).


• St. Job Square and the area near St. Peter's Church and the town hall are two older parts of town, now filled with a happy mix of stores and pubs.


• Uccle is the site of the Belgian national weather station, the Royal Meteorological Institute: any information on Belgian weather, unless region specific, is described by the statistics recorded in Uccle. Right next door is the Royal Observatory of Belgium.^[2]
  


• Uccle Cemetery, also known as Dieweg Cemetery, was created following a cholera epidemic in Brussels in 1866. Although burials ended in 1958, the grave of Hergé, the creator of Tintin who died in 1983, can be found here.^[3]
  


• The Bloemenwerf, a turn of the 20th century (1900) Art Nouveau villa built by architect Henry Van de Velde.


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  Nemo 33 is the second deepest indoor swimming pool in the world.^[4]
  


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  Château de La Fougeraie, built in 1911 for the industrialist Paul Wittouck by the architects Louis Süe and Paul Huillard. Decorated by Gustave Louis Jaulmes.

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  Kriekenputstraat/Rue du Kriekenput
  

  
  

  
  


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  Wolvendael Park
  

  
  

  
  


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  The tower of the Paepenkasteel
  

  
  

  
  


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  Château de La Fougeraie
  

  
  

  
  

Education

Lycée français Jean-Monnet

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  European School of Brussels I is located in Uccle.


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  Lycée Français Jean Monnet is located in Uccle.


• The Collège Saint-Pierre in Uccle was founded in 1905 by Cardinal Pierre-Lambert Goossens
  

Notable residents

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  Armand Abel, academic and scholar of Islam (1903–1973)


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  Salvatore Adamo, singer, lyricist, poet and novelist (b. 1943)


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  Jean Améry, born Hans Maier, author and essayist (1912–1978)


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  Sandrine Blancke, actress (b. 1978)


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  Philippe Bogaert, TV producer (b. 1971)


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  Roger De Coster, motocross racer (b. 1944)


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  Laetitia Darche, model (b. 1991)


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  Jaco van Dormael, film director (b. 1957)


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  Jef Dutilleux, impressionist painter (1876–1960)


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  M. C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist (1898–1972)


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  Lara Fabian, singer (b. 1970)


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  Jean-Michel Folon, artist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor (1934–2005)


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  Isabelle Gatti de Gamond, Belgian educationalist, feminist, and politician (1839–1905)


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  Martin Gray Warschau ghetto and Holocaust survivor, writer. (b. 1922)


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  Pierre Harmel, lawyer, politician, and diplomat (1911–2010)


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  Hergé, comics creator of The Adventures of Tintin (1907–1983)


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  Vincent Kompany, football defender, captain of the Belgian national team (b. 1986)


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  Joachim Lafosse, film director (b. 1975)


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  Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein and Prince Rudolf of Liechtenstein, (b. 1974 and 1975, respectively)


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  Queen Mathilde of Belgium (b. 1973)


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  Marianne Merchez, astronaut (b. 1960)


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  Axel Merckx, professional road bicycle racer (b. 1972)


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  Philippe Moureaux, politician, senator, and professor of economic history (b. 1939)


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  Erik Pevernagie (1939), painter


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  Louis Pevernagie (1904–1970), painter


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  Alizée Poulicek, Miss Universe Belgium 2008 (b. 1987)


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  Joseph Raphael, painter (1869–1950)


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  Axelle Red, born Fabienne Demal, singer (b. 1968)


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  Sybille de Selys Longchamps, baroness and aristocrat (b. 1941)


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  Willy Sommers, crooner (b. 1952)


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  Olivier Strebelle, sculptor (b. 1927)


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  Jacques Tits, mathematician (b. 1930)


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  Henry van de Velde, painter, architect, and interior designer (1863–1957)


• Marquis (Robert) de Wavrin, explorer of South America and ethnologist (1888–1971)

Twin cities

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  Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Uccle.

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  Official website (in French) (in Dutch)