What is "mechelen"

Mechelen (, French Malines, German Mecheln, traditional English Mechlin) is a city and municipality in the province of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Mechelen proper, some quarters at its outskirts, the hamlets of Nekkerspoel (adjacent) and Battel (a few kilometers away), as well as the villages of Walem, Heffen, Leest, Hombeek, and Muizen. The Dijle flows through the city, hence it is often referred to as the Dijlestad ("City on the river Dijle").

Mechelen lies on the major urban and industrial axis Brussels- Antwerp, about 25 km from each city. Inhabitants find employment at Mechelen's southern industrial and northern office estates, as well as at offices or industry near the capital and Zaventem Airport, or at industrial plants near Antwerp's seaport.

Mechelen is one of Flanders' prominent cities of historical art, with Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, and Leuven. It was notably a centre for artistic production during the Northern Renaissance, when painters, printmakers, illuminators and composers of polyphony were attracted by patrons such as Margaret of York, Margaret of Austria and Hieronymus van Busleyden.

Mechelen may refer to:

In Flanders, Belgium:

• Mechelen, a city in Antwerp province
  • Archbishopric of Mechelen-Brussels, an Ecclesiastical Province; the Roman Catholic Primatial See in Belgium
  • Lordship of Mechelen, and independent Lordship within Habsburg-controlled Low Countries (until 1795); one of the original Seventeen Provinces
  • Mechelen transit camp, a detention and deportation camp operating during the Nazi occupation
• Maasmechelen, a municipality in the province of Limburg
  • Mechelen-aan-de-Maas, a village within the municipality of Maasmechelen
  • Mechelen incident, a pre-World War II incident (January 1940) whereby a German bomber made a forced landing in Belgium
• Mechelen-Bovelingen, a village in the municipality of Heers, in the province of Limburg
• Kwaadmechelen, a village in the municipality of Ham, in the province of Limburg

In the Netherlands:

• Mechelen, Netherlands, a village in the municipality of Gulpen-Wittem, in the province of Limburg