Sint-Martens-Latem is a 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...

 located in the Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 province of East Flanders

East Flanders

East Flanders is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on the Netherlands and in Belgium on the provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant , of Hainaut and of West Flanders...

, in 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 comprises the towns of Deurle

Deurle

Deurle is part of the municipality of Sint-Martens-Latem located in the Flemish part of Belgium. Deurle is a picturesque small village near the borders of the river Lys and was added to Sint Martens Latem in 1977, counting then around 2000 inhabitants. Many well-known Flemish artists have lived in...

 and Sint-Martens-Latem proper. On January 1, 2006 Sint-Martens-Latem had a total population of 8,280. The total area is 14.34 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 577 inhabitants per km².

While "Latem" used to be known as an artists' colony before World War II, nowadays Sint-Martens-Latem is one of the most residential municipalities in 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...

.

Famous inhabitants

• George Minne
  George Minne
  George Minne was born in Ghent as the son of an architect . Birth names : Georgius Joannes Leonardus...
  
  , sculptor and artist
• Edgar Gevaert, painter
• Gustave De Smet
  Gustave De Smet
  Gustave De Smet was a Belgian expressionist painter.Having first adopted the "luminist" style of Emile Claus, he came under the influence of expressionism and cubism during World War I....
  
  , painter
• Constant Permeke
  Constant Permeke
  Constant Permeke was a Belgian painter and sculptor who is considered the leading figure of Flemish expressionism.Permeke was born in Antwerp but when he was six years old the family moved to Ostend, where his father became curator of the Municipal Museum of Arts. Permeke went to school in Bruges...
  
  , painter
• Gustave Van de Woestijne
  Gustave Van de Woestijne
  Gustave Van de Woestijne was a Belgian expressionist painter.He belonged to the so-called "First Group of Latem", a group of artists who worked in the rural village of Sint-Martens-Latem on the banks of the Lys, near Ghent. He was the brother of the Flemish poet Karel Van de Woestijne....
  
  , painter
• Luc-Peter Crombé
  Luc-Peter Crombé
  Luc-Peter Crombé was a Belgian, Flemish painter.Painter of landscapes, portraits, figures and religious subjects. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Higher Institute Saint-Lucuas in Ghent, as well as at the higher national institute of the fine arts of Antwerp. He attended the...
  
  , painter
• Rudolf Werthen
  Rudolf Werthen
  Rudolf Werthen is a Belgian violinist, conductor and teacher. He is founder and artistic director of the orchestra I Fiamminghi and was chief conductor of the symphonic orchestra of the Flemish Opera in 1989...
  
  , violinist & conductor

External links

• Official website - only available in Dutch
  Dutch language
  Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...