Nil-Saint-Vincent-Saint-Martin

Nil-Saint-Vincent-Saint-Martin is a former municipality in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium. In 1976 it became part of the municipality of Walhain.[1]

The villages of Nil-Saint-Vincent and Nil-Saint-Martin were merged in 1812.[2] 'Nil' is the name of a small river, along whose valley the various areas of settlement (Nil-Pierreux, Nil-Saint-Vincent, Nil-Saint-Martin) lie.

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Landmarks

Nil-Saint-Vincent-Saint-Martin has several notable landmarks.

The Tiège windmill

The Tiège windmill was built in 1834 by the Thienpont family. It was used until June 23, 1946[3] and today is a listed building (monument classé).

The centre of Belgium

The Institut Géographique National, the Belgian national cartographical service, calculated that the geographical centre of Belgium lay in Nil-Saint-Vincent.[4] The architect Bernard Defrenne built a monument for this location, which was inaugurated on August 22, 1998.[4] It is located at coordinates .[5]

References

  1. ^ "Belgian Civic Heraldry - Walhain". http://www.ngw.nl/int/bel/w/walhain.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-09. 
  2. ^ "Histoire de Nil-Saint-Vincent" (in French). Municipality of Walhain. Archived from the original on 2007-03-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20070319032150/http://www.walhain.be/template.asp?mc=2&smc=6&ssmc=12&smenuc=Nil-Saint-Vincent&tmp=4&m=2&sm=6. Retrieved 2007-03-09. 
  3. ^ Sign seen next to the windmill (See Moulin Du Tiège sign photo)
  4. ^ a b "Centre géographique - Le Site" (in French). Municipality of Walhain. Archived from the original on 2007-05-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20070514215855/http://www.walhain.be/template.asp?m=2&sm=3&smenu=Centre+g%E9ographique&tmp=4. Retrieved 2007-03-09. 
  5. ^ "Center Cache". http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=49885. Retrieved 2007-03-09.