Binche
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Binche is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006 Binche had a total population of 32,409. The total area is 60.66 km² which gives a population density of 534 inhabitants per km². Since 1977, the municipality of Binche has gathered the town of Binche itself with seven old municipalities : Bray, Buvrinnes, Epinois, Leval-Trahegnies, Péronnes-lez-Binche, Ressaix et Waudrez.
In 2003, the Carnival of Binche was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
The motto of the city is "Plus Oultre" (meaning "Further" in Old French), which was the motto of Charles V of Spain, who in 1545 gave the medieval castle of Binche to his sister Maria of Hungary, Queen-governess of the Spanish Netherlands. She lavished attention on Binche, which she had rebuilt under the direction of an architect-sculptor Jacques du Broeucq, remembered today as the first master of Giambologna. The château, intended to rival Fontainebleau, was destroyed by the soldiers of Henri II in 1554.
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