Aarschot

Aarschot is a city and municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The municipality consists of the city of Aarschot proper together with the towns of Gelrode, Langdorp and Rillaar. It lies in the Hageland district, to the east of Leuven, in the valley of the brown-colored river Demer. The Church of Our Lady dominates the look of the city and is built from the brown stone quarried in the surrounding hills, which in the Middle Ages were home to some of the most regarded vineyards in Europe. The title Duke of Aarschot, created in 1533 for the House of Croÿ and later inherited by the House of Arenberg, is the oldest non-sovereign ducal title in Belgium. Aarschot was hit very hard in the First World War: after German troops occupied it on 19 August 1914, 156 people were executed in reprisal, including the mayor, and the population was ordered to evacuate, so the city is counted among the seven Martyr cities of Belgium. On 1 January 2019 it had 30,106 inhabitants on 62.52 square kilometres.