Middelpunt van Vlaanderen

It’s rare that a country’s geographic midpoint is in an easy-to-reach place, and the geographic midpoint of Flanders is no exception. What sets this one apart from many of its counterparts, however, is the fact that it was derived as a homework assignment. 

The midpoint was derived in February 1999 by a group of students under the guidance of Professor Theo Van Der Waeteren at KU Leuven. While now this may be a relatively easy thing to do, back in those days this included over 120 hours of work including travel to the provincial borders with a GPS to mark the coordinates of the extreme points. Eventually, the location was determined to be 51° 2’ 16” N, 4° 14’ 26” E, the edge of the province of Oost-Vlaanderen, right next to a provincial triple point. 

In 2003, a marker was erected at this point, built by local sculptor Roger Van Den Eedea This marker was then erected close to an existing road several meters from the actual midpoint, as the farmer who owned the land did not want to have the statue in the middle of his field.

Sadly, the names of the students seem to have been lost to time, as the sign next to the marker reads: “Geographic midpoint of Flanders Calculated in 1999 by Prof. Theodoor Van der Waeteren of K.U. Leuven together with 4 civil engineering students and their supervisor.”