Paal, Belgium

The Albert Canal (Dutch: Albertkanaal, pronounced [ˈɑl.bərt.kaːˌnaːl]; French: Canal Albert, pronounced [kanal albɛʁ]) is a canal located in northeastern Belgium, which was named for King Albert I of Belgium. The Albert Canal connects Antwerp with Liège, and also the Meuse river with the Scheldt river. It also connects with the Dessel–Turnhout–Schoten Canal, and its total length is 129.5 kilometres (80.5 mi).

The St. Peter in Chains Church (in Dutch: Sint-Pietersbandenkerk) is a church in Neo-Gothic style with a rich Baroque interior located at the Market Square in Beringen, Belgium. It is the parish church of Beringen centre and the decanal church of the deanery of Beringen. The chancel, nave and transept are protected since 1949 and the neo-Gothic parts since 1993.

Beringen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbeːrɪŋə(n)] ; French: Béringue, French pronunciation: [beʁɛ̃ɡ]; Limburgish: Berringe) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Beringen municipality includes the town of Beringen proper and the old communes of Beverlo, Koersel, and Paal.

Mijnstadion is a multi-use stadium in Beringen, Belgium. It has been used mostly for football matches as the home ground of K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder, until the club reached the first division in 2003–04. At this time the club moved to the Fenix Stadion of rival club K.R.C. Genk. After one season at the top level of Belgian football, the club was relegated to the second division and moved back to Mijnstadion. In April 2006 Beringen-Heusden-Zolder went into liquidation. Since then, the stadium is no longer used by any professional football club and is used by young teams of the area. The stadium holds 9,416 people.

The Beringen coal preparation plant is a part of the former Beringen coal mine, which is located in Beringen in the Belgian province of Limburg. Since 1994, the building has been selected and protected as mining heritage by the Flemish government, and is planned to be reused as part of the Flemish Mining Museum. The mining site of Beringen was one of the Belgian anchor points of the ERIH (European Route of Industrial Heritage). A coal preparation plant (Dutch: Kolenwasserij, French: Triage-Lavoir) separates the usable coal from the waste rock. This coal preparation plant is one of the biggest and last vast examples of the Belgian coal industry.

Lummen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlʏmə(n)]; Limburgish: Leume [ˈløːmə] or Lumme [ˈlʏmə]) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. On January 1, 2006, Lummen had a total population of 13,691. The total area is 53.38 km² which gives a population density of 256 inhabitants per km². The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Lummen proper, Meldert en Linkhout. In addition, it includes the following hamlets: Geneiken, Genenbos, Gestel, Goeslaar, Groenlaren, Laren, Mellaer, Molem, Oostereinde, Rekhoven, Schalbroek, and Thiewinkel. Kasteel Lagendal is situated in this municipality. The historic coat of arms features the crests of the Houses of Arenberg, La Marck and Arrazola de Oñate. In 2008 however, the municipality chose to use a new logo on its official documents instead. Originally this was an estate ("villa") of the Prince Bishop of Liège. The core of this (Lummen-Koersel) was one parish until 1180. From the 10th to the 12th centuries, the County of Loon expanded in a northerly direction and seized the villa and the Counts founded an allodium, but in 1203 this area was again transferred to the Prince Bishop and taken on loan. It was given to Lodewijk van Walcourt afterwards. In 1350 Lummen came into possession of the Huis van der Mark-Arenberg. This family remained in possession of the glory until the French period (1794). However, the Dukes of Brabant also claimed to be entitled to a part of Lummen, while the (Loon) lords of Lummen sometimes attempted to found a free state in the area, whereby the Dukes of Brabant tried to sell their rights to these Loon lords several times. . The Heren van Lummen also owned the patronage rights of the parishes in their area, which also included Linkhout and Koersel, and from 1260 also Schulen. On August 17, 1943, a German fighter plane downed an American B17 bomber of the 94th bomber group over Lummen. The debris of the aircraft ended up in the area of the current Kanadastraat. Six crew members died, two were taken to Germany as prisoners of war and two escaped. A memorial was unveiled on 17 August 2013 in the parking lot of the Oosterhof, near the crash. On February 21, 1945, an Avro Lancaster bomber of the Royal Australian Air Force crashed in the Goeren in Linkhout after being shot by a German night fighter. There was only 1 survivor of the 7 crew members, namely Alex Jenkins, the pilot. There is now a memorial at the site of the crash.

Kwaadmechelen is a village in the Ham municipality of the Limburg province in the Flemish Community of Belgium. Kwaadmechelen was an independent municipality until 1977 when it merged into Ham.

Eversel is a village in Heusden that is part of the municipality of Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. It is located in the northwestern corner of the municipality. Eversel is also a Roman Catholic parish established in 1839. The local Roman Catholic church is dedicated to Saint James the Greater (Sint-Jacobus de Meerdere) and was inaugurated on 5 September 1849. The nearby parish house is named Sint-Baaf after Saint Bavo. Historically Eversel is a part of Houweiken that was part of the fiefdom of Vogelzang. Although a part of Heusden, the dialect of Eversel tends to be closer to that of Beringen. It is a part of the Western Limburgish dialects, although linguists are not clear if the dialects in this region and especially the ones around Beringen are rather Brabantian than Limburgish.

Ham (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɑm] ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006, Ham had a total population of 9,705. The total area is 32.69 km2 (13 sq mi) which gives a population density of 297 inhabitants per km² (746/sq mi).

Kasteel Lagendal is a country house in Lummen, in the province of Limburg, Belgium. It was built in 1850 in a vernacular late classical style as a shooting box commissioned by Paul Jacobs-Stellingwerff of Hasselt. Its name comes from its site on the longest point of the Lummen. Until 2005, renamed Kasteel Saint-Paul, it housed an up-market French restaurant.

Pakawi Park is a zoo in the Belgian village Olmen which is part of the town of Balen. Until 22 June 2019 it was named "Olmense Zoo".The zoo was opened in 1976 by Louis Roothooft, a former captain. He used to live near Antwerp where he had a private collection of foreign animals. He bought some land in Olmen and moved his animals to the new location. The Olmen Zoo was founded. As Roothooft loved the circus a big circus tent was soon placed. Each day the animal carers did performance acts with the animals. Roothooft died mid 1990s and the park was sold to the family Verheyen in 1995. The new owners also had a private collection of animals which were now transported to Olmen. The park was in a bad condition due to mismanagement of Roothooft, cages were not adapted to the animal needs and the number of customers was too low to make sufficient profits. That's why the park was renovated. The investments did succeed: the number of visitors raised from 9,000 to 200,000 in the first year. The circus tent was removed and no more acts were given. On 11 October 2017, the zoo lost its license and was closed due to animal welfare breaches. On 18 November 2017, the zoo reopened with a new license, after fixing most problems and making a new masterplan.The zoo is now specialized in felidae: African lions, white tigers, black leopards, Eurasian lynx, Servals, and cougars. The zoo has more than 200 different birds such as parrots, owls, eagles, flamingos, gruiformes and threskiornithidae. The zoo has of course other animals such as simian, rodents, small mammals, deers, snakes and bears.

Tessenderlo (Dutch pronunciation: [təˈsɛndərˌloː]; Limburgish: Loei) is a municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg. It is where the three Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and Antwerp meet at the front gate of the Averbode Abbey. The municipality Tessenderlo encompasses the villages of Tessenderlo proper, Schoot, Engsbergen, Hulst and Berg. On January 1, 2006, Tessenderlo had a total population of 16,811. The total area is 51.35 km2 which gives a population density of 327 inhabitants per km2. The name Tessenderlo means "(the open place in) the forest of the Taxandrians". It is along the Albert Canal and the European route E313, the highway between Antwerp and Liège, one of the reasons it was the place for the first Belgian "Industrial Zone of National Importance" in the 1960s. Tessenderlo was the scene of an infamous industrial disaster during World War II, when a stock of 150 tonnes of ammonium nitrate at the chemical plant of Produits Chimiques de Tessenderloo (now Tessenderlo Group) - located near the centre of town - exploded on April 29, 1942, killing 189 people at the plant and in the town.Tessenderlo is part of a small western zone of Limburg where the local dialect is not the Limburgian dialect, but Brabantic.