Sint-Agatha-Berchem or Berchem-Sainte-Agathe (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, pronounced bɛʁkɛm sɛ̃t aˈɡat) is one of the nineteen municipalities

Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region

The 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region are the political subdivisions of Belgium's central region...

 located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.

The municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 had a total population of 20,078 on 1 January 2006. The total area is 2.95 km² which gives a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 6,807 inhabitants per km².

The municipality is known for its calm and peaceful character. It is said that Berchem is a "village in the city". The Belgian

Demographics of Belgium

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Belgium, including ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg , professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action films, the most successful of which include Bloodsport , Kickboxer , Double Impact , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , Timecop ,...

 was born and raised here; this is also the site of the Cité Moderne a housing project from 1922-1925 designed by the great Belgian architect Victor Bourgeois

Victor Bourgeois

Victor Bourgeois was a Belgian architect and urban planner, considered the greatest Belgian modernist architect....

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