13 Facts About Mechelen

1.

Mechelen is a city and municipality in the province of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium.

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2.

Mechelen is one of Flanders' prominent cities of historical art, with Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, and Leuven.

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3.

In 1473 Charles the Bold moved several political bodies to the city, and Mechelen served as the seat of the Superior Court until the French Revolution.

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4.

Mechelen compensated for this by increasing prominence in the religious arena: in 1559 it was proclaimed the Archdiocese of Mechelen, seat of religious authority over the territory that would eventually become Belgium.

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5.

Mechelen retained further relevance as the Great Council of Mechelen remained the supreme court of the territory until the French Revolutionary Wars.

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6.

In 1835, the first railway on the European continent linked Brussels with Mechelen, which became the hub of the Belgian railway network.

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7.

Mechelen used to have its own newspaper called de Krijgstrompet, which was the official newspaper of the army.

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8.

Since 1995, a subscribers' quarterly, De Mecheleir, shows old photographs of Mechelen and has stories on the local history, as well as a few columns written mimicking the dialect, for which there is no standard spelling.

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9.

Mechelen was at the heart of the revival of the carillon in the early 20th century, and hosts its principal school in the world to this day.

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10.

Mechelen has a narrow temperature range between seasons for its high latitude, despite its inland position.

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11.

Mechelen contains the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" where carillonneurs come from around the world to study the carillon and to play the instrument.

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12.

City of Mechelen uses ANPR cameras since September 2011 to check all inbound and outbound cars against a database of stolen, non-insured and cars listed for other reasons.

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13.

Mechelen was one of the first cities in Belgium to use ANPR on this scale.

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