| Kortrijk | |
| Native Name: | Kortryk / |
| Namefr: | Courtrai |
| Type: | city |
| Picture-Legend: | Clockwise from top: Theatre Square (Schouwburgplein) during Summer Carnival, Beguinage and Saint Martin's Church, Broeltowers, Kortrijk City Hall as seen from the Grote Markt |
| Map: | Kortrijk West-Flanders Belgium Map.svg |
| Map-Legend: | Location of Kortrijk in West Flanders |
| Arms: | Wapen stad be Kortrijk (met schildhouders).svg |
| Flag: | Flag of Kortrijk.svg |
| Arrondissement: | Kortrijk |
| Nis: | 34022 |
| Pyramid-Date: | 01/01/2006 |
| 0–19: | 21.83 |
| 20–64: | 57.71 |
| 65: | 20.47 |
| Foreigners: | 3.73 |
| Foreigners-Date: | 01/07/2005 |
| Mayor: | Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) |
| Majority: | Team Burgemeester, Vooruit, N-VA |
| Postal-Codes: | 85xx (8500, 8501, 8510, 8511) |
| Telephone-Area: | 056 |
| Web: | www.kortrijk.be |
Kortrijk (in Dutch; Flemish ˈkɔrtrɛik/; Kortryk or Kortrik; French: Courtrai in French pronounced as /kuʁtʁɛ/), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray[1] [2], is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders.
With its 79,000 inhabitants (2023) Kortrijk is the capital and largest city of the judicial and administrative arrondissement of Kortrijk. The wider municipality comprises the city of Courtrai proper and the villages of Aalbeke, Bellegem, Bissegem, Heule, Kooigem, Marke, and Rollegem. Courtrai is also part of the cross-border Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai metropolitan area.[3] [4]
The city is on the river Leie, southwest of Ghent and northeast of Lille. Mouscron in Wallonia is just south of Courtrai.[5]
Courtrai originated from a Gallo-Roman town, Cortoriacum, at a crossroads near the Leie river and two Roman roads. In the Middle Ages, Courtrai grew significantly thanks to the flax and wool industry with France and England and became one of the biggest and richest cities in Flanders. The city is often referred to as City of Groeninge or City of the Golden Spurs, referring to the Battle of Courtrai or the Battle of the Golden Spurs which took place on 11 July 1302 on the Fields of Groeninge in Courtrai. In 1820 the Treaty of Kortrijk was signed, laying out the still-current borders between France and Belgium. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, the flax industry flourished and remains important within the Belgian textile industry today.
Courtrai is the largest city in southern West Flanders, with several hospitals, colleges and a university. Courtrai was the first city in Belgium with a pedestrian shopping street, the Korte Steenstraat.
The Latin name Cortoriacum[6] means the settlement near the curb in the river. There is also mention of 'Cortoracum' in some literature. Its name later evolved to 'Cortrycke', 'Cortryck' and 'Kortrijk' (19th century). In French and in English, the city is called Courtrai.
Findings from an archeological dig in 1950 in which remains of three Roman funeral pyres were found[7] suggest that the vicus was used as an encampment by the Romans during their invasion of Britain in AD 43.
Cortoriacum was a larger Gallo-Roman vicus of civitas Menapiorum at an important crossroads near the Lys river of the Roman roads linking Tongeren and Cassel and Tournai and Oudenburg. It was first mentioned in a document from the 4th or 5th century called where the cortoriacenses (cavalry) troops were mentioned. In the 9th century, Baldwin II, Count of Flanders established fortifications against the Vikings. The town gained its city charter in 1190 from Philip, Count of Flanders. The population growth required new defensive walls, part of which can still be seen today (the Broeltorens, Armory, Kortrijk). Several local places still refer to physical parts of the defensive structures around Kortrijk (Walle, Waterpoort, Menenpoort, Gentsepoort, Brugsepoort, Kasteelkaai); Most of the physical parts have been overbuilt or destroyed.
In the 13th century, the battles between Fernando of Portugal, Count of Flanders and his first cousin, King Louis VIII of France, led to the destruction of the city. The Counts of Flanders had it rebuilt soon after. To promote industry and weaving in the town, Joan, Countess of Flanders exempted settlers in Courtrai from property tax.[8] From that time, Kortrijk gained great importance as a center of linen production.
See main article: Battle of the Golden Spurs. In 1302, the population of Bruges started a successful uprising against the French, who had annexed Flanders a couple of years earlier. On 18 May the French population in that city was massacred, an event that could not go unpunished. The famous ensuing Battle of Courtrai in 1302, also known as the Battle of the Golden Spurs (Dutch: Guldensporenslag), between the Flemish people, mostly commoners and farmers, and Philip the Fair's knights took place near Courtrai on 11 July, resulting in a victory for Flanders;[9] the date is commemorated as a national holiday by the Flemish community.
Following a new uprising by the Flemish in 1323, this time against their own Count Louis I, the French invaded again. These Flemish acquisitions were consolidated by the French at the Battle of Cassel (1328).
Louis I's son Louis II lost the city to a Flemish uprising led by Philip van Artevelde in 1381, but the Flemish were later decisively defeated at the 1382 Battle of Roosebeke by Louis II with French support, resulting in a new wave of plundering and destruction.
Most of the 15th century was prosperous under the Dukes of Burgundy, until the death of the Burgundian heiress Mary of Burgundy in 1482, which ushered in renewed fighting with France.
The 16th century was marked by the confrontations engendered by the Reformation and the uprising of the Netherlands against Spain.
Louis XIV's reign saw Courtrai occupied by the French five times in sixty years and its former fortifications razed. The Treaty of Utrecht assigned the area to the Austrian Habsburgs.
After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, the textile industry, based on flax, and the general economy of the city prospered again.
Courtrai was heavily bombed in the summer of 1917, but was liberated by the British Army the following year. During World War II the city was an important railway hub for the German army, and for this reason was the target of several Allied airstrikes. On 21 July 1944 (the Belgian National Day) around 300 Avro Lancasters dropped over 5,000 bombs on the city center.[10] Many historical buildings on the central square, as well as the old railway station, were destroyed.
Battles fought there in 1302, 1382, 1580, 1793, 1794, 1814, 1815, and 1918 have each been called Battle of Courtrai.
After the 1977 fusion the city is made up of:
The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, also consists of Kuurne, Wevelgem, Zwevegem and Harelbeke. Although these municipalities have strong morphologic ties with Courtrai, they aren't officially part of the city.
Kortrijk has an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb).
Much of the city's medieval architecture remains intact and is remarkably well preserved and restored. The city centre is one of the largest car-free areas in Belgium. The béguinage, as well as the belfry, have each been recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.Interesting highlights are:
Museums in Courtrai include:
Courtrai lies at the intersection of three highways:
an international railway station with direct connections to Brugge Centraal (Bruges), Brussel Zuid, Antwerp, Ghent, Poperinge and Ieper (Ypres), Oudenaarde, other Belgian towns and Lille in France. The station also offers a direct connection to Brussels Airport.
Kortrijk has an extensive web of public transport lines, operated by De Lijn, providing access to the city centre and the suburbs (city lines, Dutch; Flemish: stadslijnen) and to many towns and villages in the region around the city (regional lines, Dutch; Flemish: streeklijnen).
At Kortrijk main railway station, there is a bus station where regional buses stop as well.
The river Lys (Leie) is an important way of transporting goods through inland navigation. The Bossuit-Kortrijk Canal enables in the city centre a direct connection with the river Scheldt.
Within the City, the river briefly splits in two, to re-join about a mile further.
From the 1970s on, the planning and later the execution of the so-called Leiewerken (Leieworks) started. These construction works comprised the deepening and widening of the river. This would enable ships with 4400 tons to navigate from France to the Scheldt. At the same time, this project included a thorough urban renewal of the riversides in the city. Seven new bridges were to give a new architectural impulse to the river quarters as well as the construction of several new parks along the river.
The following bridges were built during the period of 1997 and 2012:
More recently (2018), the banks in front of the Broel Towers were lowered to allow the public to enjoy the historic river banks along both sides of the River Lys (Leie). This area is now known as the Leieboorden (or Banks of the River Lys), a place for pedestrians with bars and restaurants.
Several small streams or Beken in and around Courtrai were of significant topological, historical and Geological value.[14]
Cars are required to give way to pedestrians and cyclists. In general, cars are led to large underground car parks in the historic centre of Courtrai or Park&Ride parking outside the town centre. Large parts of the historic centre are car free.
The city is historically connected with the flax and the textile industry, and still today the textile industry remains important in the region.Major companies which have headquarters in Courtrai include Cisco and Barco.
Courtrai serves as an educational centre in south West Flanders, attracting students from the entire region.
There are 55 schools in Courtrai, on 72 different locations throughout the city, with an estimated 21,000 students.[16]
The city also provides higher education. The KULAK, a campus of the Catholic University of Leuven, is located in on the south edge of the city, in the Hoog Kortrijk quarter. Other institutes of higher education include the VIVES University of Applied Sciences and Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen (HOWEST) university colleges. There is also a campus of Ghent University.
Even though Courtrai is a Dutch-speaking town, it borders Wallonia, and is only away from the border with France. This has created an urban area that extends across linguistic and national borders. The mayors of Lille, Courtrai and Tournai met in Courtrai on 28 January 2008 to sign a document creating the first European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation within the EU. The purpose of this organisation is to facilitate the movement of people within this area of nearly 2 million people.
| Group of origin | Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023[18] | |||
| Number | % | ||
| Belgians with Belgian background | 59,756 | 75.69% | |
| Belgians with foreign background | 10,794 | 13.67% | |
| Neighboring country | 1,638 | 2.07% | |
| EU27 (excluding neighboring country) | 700 | 0.89% | |
| Outside EU 27 | 8,456 | 10.71% | |
| Non-Belgians | 8,394 | 10.63% | |
| Neighboring country | 1,164 | 1.47% | |
| EU27 (excluding neighboring country) | 1,747 | 2.21% | |
| Outside EU 27 | 5,483 | 6.95% | |
| Total | 78,944 | 100% | |
The city is host to some sizable cultural events such as:
Also, trade shows and events such as the international Design Fair Interieur, Busworld and the Eurodogshow take place in the Kortrijk Xpo event center. These fairs attract numerous visitors to the city.
In July and August there are various boat tours on the river Leie.
Local specialities include Kalletaart (apple cake with Calvados), Peperbollen, biscuits, and chocolate little beguines. The town of Heule is the home of the Picobrouwerij Alvinne brewery, while Bellegem is the home of the Bockor brewery.
Kortrijk has three official football clubs.
In Flanders generally, professional cycling is very popular. Many cycling races start, finish or pass through the Kortrijk area. Amongst them are the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Gent–Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders and Dwars door Vlaanderen. Kortrijk also hosts an after-tour criterium at the start of August called Kortrijk Koerse. Many of the riders who participated in the Tour de France usually appear at the start. In cyclo-cross, the centre of Kortrijk hosts the Urban Cross, currently part of the X²O Badkamers Trophy.
Courtrai participates in town twinning to encourage good international relations.[20]