Saint-Ghislain

Saint-Ghislain (French pronunciation:[sɛ̃ɡilɛ̃]ⓘ; Picard:Saint-Guilagne; Walloon:Sint-Guilin) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium.

On 1 January 2018 the municipality had 23,335 inhabitants. The total area is 70.18 square kilometres (27.10sqmi), giving a population density of 333 inhabitants per square kilometre (860/sqmi).

The municipality consists of the following districts: Baudour, Hautrage, Neufmaison, Saint-Ghislain, Sirault, Tertre et Villerot.

History

The town is named after Saint Ghislain. In the 7th century, with two unknown disciples Ghislain made a clearing in the vicinity of Castrilocus (now Mons), later taking up his abode at a place called Ursidongus, where he built an oratory or chapel dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. Ursidongus was later named after him.

Economy

Google chose Saint-Ghislain in 2007 to host its new major European datacenter.

People born in Saint-Ghislain

• Johannes Ockeghem, composer (between 1410 and 1425)

Twin towns

• France Saint-Lô, France (since 1961)
• Poland Sierakowice, Poland (since 2005)

External links

• Media related toSaint-Ghislainat Wikimedia Commons