BRUGES - BELGIUM |
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Bruges (Dutch: Brugge) is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the
three regions of Belgium, in the province of West Flanders of which it is
the capital. The municipality comprises the city of Bruges proper and the
towns of Assebroek, Dudzele, Koolkerke, Lissewege, Sint-Andries, Sint-Jozef,
Sint-Kruis, Sint-Michiels, Sint-Pieters, Zeebrugge, and Zwankendamme. On
January 1st, 2000 Bruges had a total population of 116,246 (56,292 males and
59,954 females). The total area is 139.48 km˛ which gives a population
density of 833.40 inhabitants per km˛.
Like Ghent, but on a more concentrated scale,
it has most of its medieval architecture intact. It is one of the main
tourist attractions in Belgium, and was European Capital of Culture in 2002
together with Salamanca. A large area of the center of town is carfree. |
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The Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin (1548-1620) was born in Bruges.
The fictional character, Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movie series is
also supposed to be from Bruges, although he forgot that he must be able to
speak Dutch, since he was born in Bruges. |
