Baarle is a village that extends over two municipalities: the
Belgian Baarle-Hertog and the Dutch Baarle-Nassau. The Belgian part
consists of 22 exclaves (the boundaries were definitively
established in 1995 and a former neutral grassland became the 22nd
exclave). The exclaves in turn enclose seven pieces of Dutch
territory; Belgium itself enclaves an eighth piece close to
Ginhoven. There are three quadripoints.
Because the national
borders have divided some parcels, some buildings are right on it.
This is the case, for example, for a Zeeman branch. The "front door
rule" applies to these buildings: their address is in the country in
which their front door is located. An exception to this is a house
in the street Loveren with a Belgian (# 2) and Dutch (# 19) front
door. For convenience, all house numbers were given a flag (see
photos).
Toponymy
The name Baarle (in old sources Barle or Barlo) is
explained in different ways. The last part certainly comes from loo,
which means forest on sandy ground, close to a settlement. The first
part comes from
bar: a bare, flat or undeveloped land.
barza: Primordial German word for coniferous wood.
Baro or Bera,
an old personal name.
The suffixes Hertog and Nassau refer to the
duke of Brabant, respectively the Huis Nassau, which owned the
barony of Breda.
The name of the hamlet of Tommel comes from
the Latin word tumulus, which means burial mound. Several
prehistoric burial mounds are known at Tommel. Urns have also been
found that indicate that the area around Tommel was already
inhabited in the Bronze Age.
Sights
Baarle-Hertog
The
Sint-Remigius Church, from 1640, in late Campine Gothic.
Villa at
Pastoor de Katerstraat 3, from 1900, in neo-renaissance style.
Smugglers' monument, on the Prins Hendrik I square, from 1992. It
was made by Constant Grooten on the occasion of the 1000th
anniversary of Baarle. In 1996 it was inaugurated by Sjaak Mulders
and Mon van Casteren, both retired smugglers, but very active during
the period when butter smuggling was still lucrative. They still
drove armored cars and scattered crow's feet.
The Franciscan
Monastery, in a mansion at Kerkstraat 7, founded in 1879 by the
Franciscan Sisters of Sint-Jozefsdal in Herentals, renovated in
1930.
Baarle-Nassau
The Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Bijstand
church from 1879, enlarged in 1932 and 1958.
The former
Baarle-Nassau station, from 1869.
Some service houses in
Baarle-Nassau Grens, from 1905
The hard stone village pump, from
1809, on the Singel. Here are also four grazing posts.
A former
tannery, at Chaamseweg 9A. It is a traditional tannery from the last
quarter of the 19th century.
House at Singel 13, from 1639, a
Kempen storey house.
Farmhouse at Boschoven 8, from 1636, with
details on the facades that are swung in and out.
The
Sint-Salvator Chapel in the hamlet of Nijhoven
Museums
Baarle's Museum at Kerkplein 3 in Baarle-Hertog, shows carved
candles.
Museum Vergane Glorie, at Turnhoutseweg 10A in
Baarle-Hertog, shows old crafts