Belgique - Louvain-la-Neuve - Gare - Quai - Belgian beers - 02

Chimay (, ) is a city and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

located in the province of Hainaut,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. In 2006, Chimay had a population of 9,774. The area is 197.10 km² which gives a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 50 inhabitants per km². It is the source of the

Oise River The Oise ( ; ) is a river of Belgium and France, flowing for from its source in the Belgian province of Hainaut, south of Chimay. It crosses the border with France after about , and flows into the Seine at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a north-wes ...

. In the administrative district of Thuin, the municipality was created with a merger of 14 communes in 1977. The

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

monastery of Scourmont Abbey in the town is famous for the Chimay Brewery.

Toponymy

The etymology of the name is ultimately, via

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...

, from the

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

word ''koimos'' meaning "pretty, pleasant".

Subdivisions

The Walloon names of the place names are in brackets and italics. * Baileux (''Balieu'') * Bailièvre (''Bailleve'') * Bourlers (''Bourlé'') *Chimay (''Chimai'') * Forges (''Foidjes'') *L'Escaillère (''L'Ecayire'') * Lompret (''Lompré'') * Rièzes (''Rieze'') * Robechies (''Robchiye'') * Saint-Remy (''Sint-Rmey'') * Salles (''Sale'') * Vaulx (''Vå'') * Villers-la-Tour (''Vilé-al-Tour'') * Virelles (''Virele'')

Demographics

Attractions

* Chimay Castle, the

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

of the princes of Chimay * Lake Virelles *The source of the

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

Chimay has traditionally hosted an annual

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

event, run on a

street circuit A street circuit is a motorsport race track, racing circuit composed of temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor racing, motor races. Airport Runway, runways and Taxiway, taxiways are also sometimes part of ...

formed from local public roads. From the 1920s to 1960s the event was run for contemporary Grand Prix and sportscar categories, and included the famous Grand Prix des Frontières. In recent times, while the event has persisted it has been run for historic race series. The track briefly lost its licence in 2006 related to safety fears, but has since had it reinstated. Image:Château Chimay 2.JPG, Chimay Castle Image:Chimay Belgium town square.jpg, The central town square, Chimay Image:Chimay CH1aJPG.jpg, Chimay Castle Chimay Trappist beers and

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

s are produced in the town by the Chimay Brewery, run by the Trappist monks of Scourmont Abbey, and are internationally renowned.

Notable people

* Daniel van Buyten (b. 1978), football player * Émile Coulonvaux (1892–1966), politician * François Duval (b. 1980), rally car driver *

Jean Froissart Jean Froissart ( Old and Middle French: ''Jehan''; sometimes known as John Froissart in English; – ) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meli ...

(c.1337-c.1405), medieval historian * Georges Hostelet (1875–1960), mathematician, philosopher, and sociologist *

François-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet François-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet (21 September 1771 - 2 March 1843), as a French aristocrat who became the 16th Prince de Chimay from 24 July 1804 to 1843. Early life François-Joseph-Philippe was born in Paris on 21 September 1771. He was a ...

(1771–1843), Prince of Chimay, and his wife Thérésa Tallien (1773–1835), French social figure

Twin cities/towns

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Conflans-Sainte-Honorine Conflans-Sainte-Honorine () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, from the center of Paris. The commune was originally named for its g ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

References

External links

Official website

Chimay
at the Union of Cities and Municipalities of Wallonia
chimay.be

atheneeroyaldechimay.free.fr
{{Authority control Cities in Wallonia Municipalities of Hainaut (province)