Kortrijk

Kortrijk (also Courtrai), town in north-west Belgium, in West Flanders Province, on the Lys River near Ghent. Kortrijk is known for its fine linens made from the high-quality flax grown nearby and for its Valenciennes lace. It has cotton and wool mills, sugar refineries, and a tobacco market. The town is encircled by the remains of ancient walls. Located in Kortrijk are a castle, a citadel, a 16th-century town hall, a bridge with fine old Flemish towers at each end, and, most important, the Gothic church of Notre Dame, completed in 1211, which contains a famous Van Dyck painting, The Elevation of the Cross.

Kortrijk dates from Roman times, when it was called Cortoriacum. Destroyed by the Normans, it was rebuilt in the 10th century by Baldwin III, count of Flanders. The town became an important centre of trade, and at its height had a population of about 200,000.

During World War I Kortrijk was bombed and then occupied by the Germans for the duration. In World War II the town fell to the invading Germans on May 24, 1940. Between then and September 1944, when Kortrijk was liberated by British and Canadian armies, Allied air forces repeatedly bombed the town's munitions plants: nearly one-third of the buildings in Kortrijk were destroyed or damaged. Population 73,777 (2007 estimate).