Korbeek-Lo () is a

sub-municipality A (, literally ''sub-municipality''), or section (), is a subdivision of a municipality in Belgium and, until March 2014, in the Netherlands as well. Belgium Each Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in Belgium that existed as a separate ...

of the

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' ...

of Bierbeek located in the province of Flemish Brabant,

Flemish Region The Flemish Region (, ), usually simply referred to as Flanders ( ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—alongside the Wallonia, Walloon Region and the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region. ...

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 ...

. As a result of extensive local government boundary changes in 1977 Korbeek-Lo, as a municipality, was abolished. Since then the more built up western part of Korbeek-Lo has been subsumed into

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

while the more rural eastern part of the former municipality is now part of Bierbeek.

History

The history of Korbeek-Lo starts a long way back. On the St.-Martinusberg plateau traces have been found of prehistoric homesteads. There is also evidence of Roman settlement, and there is evidence of human habitation during the subsequent Frankish period. One of the surviving farmsteads bears the name "Het Dalemhof", of which the middle syllable is thought to derive from the Germanic word "heim", endorsing the view that the name is of Frankish provenance. There is little consensus on the origins of the name. One theory is that 'Korbeek' is an old term for a gentle murmuring brook, while ‘Lo’ is an old word for a copse. 'Korbeek' might simply mean ‘short brook’. 1107 finds a surviving record of the name, written as 'Corbeke’, while alternative early orthographies also include 'Cortbeke' en 'Cortebeke'. There was already a church here, in 1102, which was required to make annual payments to the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

. By the late medieval period Korbeek-Lo was an agricultural village, with a handful of substantial farmsteads owned by monasteries, charitable institutions or wealthy citizens from nearby Leuven/Louvain. By the end of the fifteenth century several

breweries A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

were present, and these were popular with visitors because they were subject to lower taxation rates than breweries in Leuven. The end of the medieval period was a time of suffering, notably at the hands of Emperor Maximillian (1488-1489) and during the Siege of Louvain by Maarten van Rossum in 1542, and again during the

religious wars A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (), is a War, war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the exte ...

of the late sixteenth century, the campaigning following the creation of the Franco-Dutch alliance of 1635 and again the French invasion of 1695. Korbeek-Lo also suffered from the European wars of the twentieth century. In 1914, 24 and 25 August saw central Louvain/Leuven set alight, and during the ensuring days it was the turn of the villages along the road towards

Tienen Tienen (; ) is a city and municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises Tienen itself and the towns of Bost, Goetsenhoven, Hakendover, Kumtich, Oorbeek, Oplinter, Sint-Margriete-Houtem and Viss ...

to suffer similar assaults. Almost every house in Korbeek-Lo was plundered and 132 homes, along with 3 schools and 4 chateaux, were destroyed. 18 died. Thirty years later, during the night of 2 September 1944, four railway trucks at the station loaded with explosives blew up, the force of the explosion damaging virtually every building in the village. By the end of the nineteenth century the van 'De Mol' quarter also contained several small brick works, but these had all ceased to operate. Today Korbeek-Lo is a residential and commercial centre on the eastern side of Leuven.

Transport and traffic

The village is bisected by the straight road connecting Leuven and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

to the west with

and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

to the east. As a main road with a hard surface (known as a "Steenweg"/"''stone road''"), this section dates back to 1716, though its designation as the N3 (''National road'' 3) is a twentieth century development. Korbeek-Lo is also on the main railway line running from Brussels to Liège, this section of line, from Louvain to Tienen, having been opened in 1837. Trains no longer serve the community from here, however, since the station has been closed. The nineteenth century line has since 1993 been complemented by a

High Speed Train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

line linking Brussels with Liège and Cologne, but at Korbeek-Lo 900 meters of the high speed track is concealed in a tunnel in order to cross other pre-existing communication routes. A modern motorway, the A3/ E40, of which the local section opened in 1972, parallels to the older National Road 3, but is positioned a couple of kilometers to the south and therefore a short distance away from the centre of the village. The nearest access point is Junction 23 (Haasrode exit), roughly 5 km / 3 miles to the south-west.

References

Sub-municipalities of Bierbeek Former municipalities of Flemish Brabant {{FlemishBrabant-geo-stub