Kelmis

Kelmis
Municipality

View of Kelmis

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Coat of arms
Kelmis

Location in Belgium

Coordinates: 50°42′N 06°00′E / 50.700°N 6.000°E / 50.700; 6.000Coordinates: 50°42′N 06°00′E / 50.700°N 6.000°E / 50.700; 6.000
Country Belgium
Community German-speaking Community
Region Wallonia
Province Liège
Arrondissement Verviers
Government
 • Mayor Louis Goebbels
 • Governing party/ies PFF
Area
 • Total 18.12 km2 (7.00 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2016)[1]
 • Total 10,917
 • Density 600/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Postal codes 4720–4728
Area codes 087
Website www.kelmis.be

Kelmis (French: La Calamine) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. As of 2011, the population was 10,881; the area is 18.1 square kilometres (7.0 sq mi) and the population density is 601.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,557/sq mi).[2]

The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Kelmis proper, Hergenrath, and Neu-Moresnet.

The territory around the Vieille Montagne zinc mine in Kelmis was a neutral condominium of the Netherlands and Prussia (later Belgium and Germany) from 1816 to 1919 as Neutral Moresnet, with the Mayor of Kelmis being nominated by two commissionners from the neighbouring countries. Although there were attempts by locals at making it evolve into a fully independent microstate, all of them were thwarted and it remained under double-sovereignty and neutrality until its eventual annexation by Belgium after World War I.

In the nineteenth century a Low Dietsch dialect was spoken in Kelmis. Today Kelmis is bilingual: German and French and one of the nine municipalities of the German‑speaking Community of Belgium.

Church in the centre of Kelmis

See also

References

  1. ↑ Population per municipality as of 1 January 2016 (XLS; 397 KB)
  2. ↑ "Votre commune en chiffres: La Calamine" (PDF) (in French). SPF Economie. 2012. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 March 2016.
 Vaalserberg (Three-Country Point) Aachen (DE-NW)
Plombières
  Kelmis  
Lontzen Raeren


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