Turnhout

Turnhout is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of Antwerp, and the municipality consists only of the city proper. Its population was 45,874 in 2021, within a wider agglomeration of 81,473 people, and its area is 56.06 square kilometres. The town grew at the crossing of two major trade routes beside a hunting castle of the Dukes of Brabant, which seems to have existed by 1110, and it received free city rights from Henry I, Duke of Brabant, around 1212. A Saturday market was granted in 1338. In the late Middle Ages it was a centre of linen and bedding weaving, and in the nineteenth century paper-based industries replaced these, leaving it known for printing and for playing cards: Cartamundi, the largest playing card manufacturer in the world, has its head office here. Sights include the Brabant castle, the Gothic church of St Peter, and the beguinage, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. The city is the capital of its administrative district and calls itself the capital of the Campine area.