The municipality of La Hulpe (in Dutch, Terhulpen; 7,309 inhabitants on 1
January 2007; 1,556 ha, including the whole beech forest of Soignes,
300 ha) is located 20 km south-east of Brussels.
The name of La
Hulpe comes from the Celtic word helpe, "the silver river". The brooks
that water La Hulpe form a string of ponds that is called today
L'Argentine.
The site was already settled 10,000 years BC, as
proved by an axe made of smooth flintstone found in Gaillemarde. The
village was actually founded by the Duke of Brabant by clearing a hill
separating the valleys of Argentine and Mazerine. La Hulpe still keeps
two hamlets, Gaillemarde in the west and Malaise-Bakenbos in the east.
The limits of the latter hamlet and of other parts of La Hulpe were
modified when the linguistic border (between French and Dutch) was fixed
in 1963. La Hulpe was granted municipal rights by a charter signed by
Henri I on 3 June 1320. It became a mairie, where lower and higher
justice was exercised, and kept its status until 1792. The pillory
standing near the church was demolished under the French rule; it was
partially restored and can be seen in the town hall. From 1795 to 1814,
La Hulpe was the seat of a court with jurisdiction over some ten
neighbouring municipalities, in an area spreading from Overijse to
Waterloo. After the independence of Belgium, La Hulpe lost its
administrative and political functions and was incorporated into the
canton of Wavre.
The church of La Hulpe was mentioned in a
document dated 1226. It is shown on the oldest representation of La
Hulpe, a Brussels tapestry from the Hunts of Maximilian suite kept in
the Louvre Museum, showing a hunting scene emblemmatic of a month in
Charles V's time. The church, except the tower and the central nave,
were dramatically transformed, for the last time in 1906. The King
Baudouin's Memorial was built behind the church, close to the
