Putte is part of the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

municipality of

Woensdrecht Woensdrecht () is a municipality (named after the village) in the southern Netherlands. Woensdrecht is the home of the Woensdrecht Air Base, which is located to the north-east of the village of Woensdrecht and to the north-west of Huijbergen. ...

, and had 3751 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008. The village lies on and extends over the border between the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

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 ...

, the Belgian part being

Putte, Kapellen Putte is a village on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands. The village is marked by the borders that run through it. The Dutch part is in Woensdrecht, North Brabant. The Belgian part is mostly the municipality of Kapellen and a small ...

History

The village was first mentioned in 1277 as Pitte and means

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

. Putte developed around the 14th century which is located in Belgium, but whose park is mainly in the Netherlands. In 1839, the border was defined and the village started to develop along the border road. In 1648, at the

Peace of Münster The Peace of Münster, signed on 30 January 1648, was a treaty between Philip IV of Spain and the States-General of the Netherlands, Lords States General of the Dutch Republic. Negotiated in parallel to, but not part of, the Peace of Westphalia, ...

, the border between the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

and the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

was drawn through the village of Putte. The Catholic St Dionysius Church was built in 1865. The church was destroyed in 1940 by war. In 1950, the tower was rebuilt. The church was rebuilt in 1953 at a distance from the tower. The Moretusbosch is a forest which used to belong to Castle Ravenhof, and contains

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is de ...

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

tea house. Putte was home to 671 people in 1840. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the border was sealed off and the

Wire of Death The Wire of Death (, , ) was a lethal electric fence created by the German military to control the Dutch–Belgian frontier after the occupation of Belgium during the First World War. Terminology The name 'Wire of Death' is an English ren ...

was constructed to prevent refugees from entering the Netherlands. The former municipality (which merged with several other communities to form the municipality of

in 1997) covered 18,56 sq. kilometres, of which much is forest and moorland.

Notable people

Putte is the burial place of the 17th century

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

painter

Jacob Jordaens Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678Jacques Jordaens
in the Netherlands Institute for Ar ...

who, as a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, could not be buried in his

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

hometown. A Jordaens monument stands on the place of the former Protestant cemetery. The village also has three extensive

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

cemeteries with many graves of

Belgian Jews The history of the Jews in Belgium goes back to the 1st century CE until today. The Jewish community numbered 66,000 on the eve of the Second World War but after the war and the Holocaust, now is less than half that number. Today, Belgium is hom ...

. The noted artist

Marguerite Wildenhain Marguerite Wildenhain, née Marguerite Friedlaender, also spelled ''Friedländer'' (October 11, 1896 – February 24, 1985), was an American Bauhaus-trained ceramic artist, educator and author. After immigrating to the United States in 1940, she ...

, who was forced to leave her teaching post in Germany because of her Jewish ancestry, came to Putte in 1933. She and her husband Franz established in the town a pottery shop called ''Het Kruikje'' (Little Jug) - which existed until the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, when Wildenhain was able to find refuge in the US.

Gallery

File:Stabroek Ravenhof 22.JPG, Tea house Ravenhof File:Grenspaal 262 België-Nederland 2.jpg, Border pole #262 File:Overzicht kerktoren - Putte - 20002601 - RCE.jpg, Street view

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline Belgium–Netherlands border crossings Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 1997 Populated places in North Brabant Former municipalities of North Brabant Woensdrecht

History

Notable people

Gallery

See also

References

External links