'Heusden-Zolder' is a
municipality located in the
Belgian province of
Limburg near
Hasselt. On
January 1 2006 Heusden-Zolder had a total population of 30,769. The total area is 53.23
km² which gives a
population density of 578 inhabitants per km².
Heusden-Zolder was the result of the merger on January 1 1977 of the two former municipalities of
Heusden and
Zolder. Heusden exists out of the parishes Heusden centre,
Berkenbos and
Eversel. Zolder consists out of Zolder centre,
Boekt,
Viversel,
Bolderberg and
Lindeman.
Heusden-Zolder is the home to almost 2000
immigrants from all over the world. This is due to the (now closed) coal mine of Zolder. During the
1960s the belgian coal mines had an enormous shortage of employees. For that reason they payed a lot of money to foreigners who wanted to come and work here. After the closure of the mines (the one in Zolder was the last one in Belgium to close in
1992) most of them chose to stay rather than go back to their home country. This makes Heusden-Zolder a very
multicultural place.
The town hall is located in Zolder centre since the merger. As a compromise the former town hall of Heusden is now used instead by the local
social security department (OCMW).
Places of interest
★ The Circuit
Terlaemen, former home to the
Formula One Belgian Grand Prix and host of the
2007 Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix. Also the
1969 and
2002 UCI Road World Championships, the
2002 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships and the
2003 Motocross des Nations were held at this same location.
★ Castle of Meylandt, a castle donated to Heusden-Zolder from the
de Theux de Meylandt family. It is currently used as an artschool.
★
De Veen, an
athletics stadium that yearly hosts the
KBC Nacht van de Atletiek, the second most important athletics meeting in Belgium after the world famous
Memorial Van Damme in
Brussels.
Famous activities
★ De Revue, comical theatre play in the Heusden dialect.
Famous inhabitants
★
Evil Superstars,
indie rock band
★
Regie Penxten,
Milk Inc. and DJ
★
Sonja Claes,mayor
External links
★
Official website - Only available in
Dutch