Note: It was a small village until 1795, when it quickly grew into an important town. Architecturally it features the domed Church of Sainte-Marie, built1845-53 in the Romanesque-Byzantine style, and the town hall, dating from 1885-87, of an old Flemish design. The 21st-century city is an industrial suburb of Brussels, serving as a rail junction and housing clothing, machinery and chemical manufactories. Its recorded population in 200 was 106.642.
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