๐ง๐ช Eeklo is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises only the town of Eeklo proper. The name Eeklo comes from the contraction of "eke" and "lo", two Old German words meaning oak and sparse woods.
History There are not many traces of early habitation in the Eeklo area. It is presumed that some oaks would have attracted the attention of travellers on the Roman road that ran along the local sandbar among the marshes. By 1240, a town had grown here and had already become important enough to warrant a civic charter by Jeanne of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders. Over the years, the marshes were drained to give place to fortified farms, some remnants of which can still be seen today (Groot Goed). Like most other cities in the County of Flanders, Eeklo's economy was based on the cloth industry, and commercial relations were established with the more powerful neighbouring cities, Ghent and Bruges.
16th century until now During the second half of the 16th century, Eeklo was in the unfortunate position of being on the border between the Catholic south and the Protestant north, which resulted in so much destruction that the town was nearly abandoned by its inhabitants. At around that time the legend of "recooking" appeared, actually a rejuvenation recipe that involved drinking a youth elixir, cutting one's head off and baking it again. While the head was in the oven, a green cabbage took its place on the body, symbol of the empty head.
The 18th and 19th century were more favourable and the textile industry took off again. Most of the town's schools and neo-gothic buildings date from that period. Today, Eeklo is changing its vocation from an industrial town to one of services to the neighbouring communities.
Tourist Industry โข The town hall and belfry have been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1999. โข Eeklo has a few notable churches and chapels, such as the St Vincent Church (Sint-Vincentiuskerk) and the chapel of the clinic of the Holy Heart (Heilig Hartkliniek). โข A nearby provincial park, โHet Leenโ, includes an arboretum and museum. โข A local park, the Heldenpark, offers concerts in summer, and houses a playground for children, bowling areas for seniors, and a soccer and baseball field.
Eeklo has a population of over 20,890 people. Eeklo also forms the centre of the wider Eeklo Arrondissement which has a population of over 84,113 people. Eeklo is situated 21 km north-west of Ghent.
To set up a UBI Lab for Eeklo see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork
Twin Towns, Sister Cities Eeklo has links with:
๐ซ๐ท Bagnols-sur-Cรจze, France ๐ฉ๐ช Braunfels, Germany ๐ช๐ธ Carcaixent, Spain ๐ฎ๐น Feltre, Italy ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Newbury, England๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Godalming 51.186
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Shepton Mallet 51.19
๐ฉ๐ช Waldeck-Frankenberg 51.191
๐ฉ๐ช Mรถnchengladbach 51.196
๐ฐ๐ฟ Nur-Sultan 51.177
๐ง๐ช Oudenaarde 3.6
๐ณ๐ฑ Middelburg 3.617
Locations Near: Eeklo 3.56608,51.1854
๐ง๐ช Gent 3.717,51.05 d: 18.4
๐ง๐ช Ghent 3.725,51.055 d: 18.3
๐ณ๐ฑ Terneuzen 3.833,51.333 d: 24.8
๐ณ๐ฑ Middelburg 3.617,51.5 d: 35.2
๐ง๐ช Oudenaarde 3.6,50.85 d: 37.4
๐ง๐ช Bruges 3.225,51.209 d: 23.9
๐ง๐ช Brugge 3.217,51.2 d: 24.4
Antipodal to: Eeklo -176.434,-51.185
๐น๐ด Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 16672.1
๐ฆ๐ธ Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 15879.2
๐ผ๐ธ Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 15840.5
๐ต๐ซ Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 15586.1
๐บ๐ธ Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 11859.2
๐บ๐ธ Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 11784.2
๐บ๐ธ Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 11772.2
๐บ๐ธ Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 11766.8