PROFILBARU.COM

Villers-la-Ville
Villers-la-Ville
Municipality
	Marbais
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location of Villers-la-Ville
	Villers-la-Ville Location in Belgium The municipality of Villers-la-Ville in Walloon Brabant
	Coordinates: 50°35′N 04°32′E / 50.583°N 4.533°E
Country	Belgium
Community	French Community
Region	Wallonia
Province	Walloon Brabant
Arrondissement	Nivelles
Government
• Mayor	Emmanuel Burton (MR)
• Governing party/ies	MR
Area
• Total	48.03 km2 (18.54 sq mi)
Population (2018-01-01)
• Total	10,713
• Density	220/km2 (580/sq mi)
Postal codes	1495
NIS code	25107
Area codes	071
Website	www.villers-la-ville.be

Villers-la-Ville (French pronunciation: [vilɛʁs la vil] ^ⓘ; Walloon: L' Abeye) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006, Villers-la-Ville had a total population of 9,572. The total area is 47.45 km² which gives a population density of 202 inhabitants per km². The municipality includes also the villages of Marbais, Mellery, Sart-Dames-Avelines and Tilly.

History

Early History and Founding

The most notable historical site in Villers-la-Ville is the Villers Abbey, a Cistercian abbey founded in 1146 by twelve monks and three lay brothers from Clairvaux. The land for the abbey was granted by Gauthier de Marbais. Initially, the monks established several preliminary sites before finally settling on the current location in the 13th century.^[2]

Architectural Development

The construction of the abbey was a monumental task that spanned several decades. The choir was completed by 1217, the crypt by 1240, and the refectory by 1267. The church itself took 70 years to build and was completed by the end of the 13th century. During this period, the abbey reached the height of its fame and importance, with contemporary accounts suggesting that roughly 100 monks and 300 lay brothers resided within its walls. The abbey’s lands expanded to approximately 100 km² of woods, fields, and pasturage.

Decline and Challenges

The abbey began to face challenges in the 16th century, tied to the larger troubles of the Low Countries. Spanish tercios caused considerable damage to the church and cloister during the campaign of 1544. Although partially restored in 1587, the abbey’s fortunes continued to diminish in the 17th and 18th centuries1. The number of monks and the abbey’s wealth dwindled, and it was finally abandoned in 1796 following the French Revolution.

Post-Abandonment and Restoration

After its abandonment, the abbey fell into disrepair. Further degradation occurred in 1855 when a railway line was constructed through the old abbatial grounds1. In 1893, the Belgian state purchased the site and launched a conservation effort1. The abbey was classified as an official historic site in 1973, and since then, it has undergone considerable restoration1. The remains of the abbey, including the cloister, refectory, kitchens, dormitories, and brewing house, can still be seen today.

Modern Significance

Today, Villers Abbey is a significant cultural and historical site. It hosts an annual choir festival, La Nuit des Chœurs, where various choirs perform different genres of music1. The site is maintained by the Association pour la Promotion Touristique et Culturelle de Villers (APTCV). The church, although in ruins, is an outstanding example of Cistercian architecture, with imposing vaulting, arches, and rose windows.^[3]^[4]

Sites

To the north of the village lie the ruins of the Villers Abbey, which was one of the most important Cistercian abbeys of Europe. It was founded in 1147 and destroyed by the French republicans in 1795. In the ruined church attached to the abbey the tombstones of several dukes of Brabant of the 13th and 14th centuries are still to be found.^[5]

The ruins also appear in the final episode of season 2 of sense8.

Postal history

The MARBAIS post office opened on 1 June 1838. It used postal distribution code 33 with bars (before 1864), and code 235 with points before 1874. The VILLERS-LA-VILLE post-office opened on 10 February 1865. SART-DAMES-AVELINES on 15 October 1877, TILLY on 8 November 1906.^[6]

Postal codes in 1969:^[7]

6318 Marbais
6320 Villers-la-Ville
6321 Tilly
6322 Mellery
6328 Sart-Dames-Avelines

Code 1495 since at least October 1990.

Transport

Villers-la-Ville railway station
Tilly railway station, in the sub-municipality of Tilly

References

^ "Wettelijke Bevolking per gemeente op 1 januari 2018". Statbel. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
^ "Visiting the Villers Abbey: Location, History and Guide!". wonderfulwanderings.com. 2023-11-17. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
^ "Villers Abbey". Villers Abbey. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
^ laurewanderscom (2019-08-28). "The Villers Abbey in Belgium: A Guide for 2024 - Laure Wanders". Retrieved 2024-09-06.
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Villers la Ville". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 86.
^ Catalogue Spécialisé des Oblitérations Belges, 1849-1910, Nationale en Internationale Postzegelmanifestaties Antwerpen (NIPA), Antwerp, 1999.
^ Liste des Numéros Postaux, Administration des Postes, Bruxelles 1969.