Kempen

Kempen may refer to:

People

Kempen, Germany

Kempen is a town in the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 30 km northwest of Düsseldorf, and 20 km east of Venlo.

Notable persons

Kempen is the birthplace of Thomas à Kempis.

Thomas was born in either 1379 or 1380 in Kempen. His birthplace was on the Kirchplatz (church square) about where the house "St. Marien 11" stands today. Thomas was the second son of the craftsman Johann Hemerken and his wife Gertrud Kuyt, who was most probably a teacher.

In Kempen, Thomas visited the Latin School until the age of 12. Afterwards, he left Kempen in order to visit the town school in Deventer, which had a very good reputation and was most likely therefore known on the Lower Rhine. The school served as a preparatory institution for university study and taught mainly grammar, logic, ethics and philosophy.

In 1836, the Thomas Society was founded in Kempen in order to foster the memory of the greatest son of the city. In the twentieth century, there have been two other foundations: in 1979, the married couple Heinrich and Christine Kiefer founded the Thomas Foundation and in 1987, the Provost’s parish, the town of Kempen and the Thomas Society jointly founded the Thomas Archive, which can be found in the Cultural Forum of the Franciscan Monastery.

Campine

The Campine (French) or De Kempen (Dutch) is a natural region situated chiefly in north-eastern Belgium and parts of the south-eastern Netherlands which once consisted mainly of extensive moors, tracts of sandy heath, and wetlands. It encompasses a large northern and eastern portion of Antwerp province and adjacent parts of Limburg in Belgium, as well as portions of the Dutch province of North Brabant (area southwest of Eindhoven) and Dutch Limburg around Weert.

Today the Campine is becoming a popular destination for tourists in search of a quiet and relaxing weekend. Old farms have been transformed into bed-and-breakfast hotels, the restaurant and café business is very active, and an extensive cycle touring network has come into existence over the past few years.

Part of the Campine is protected as the Hoge Kempen Nationaal Park (High Campine National Park). It is located in the east of the Belgian province of Limburg, between Genk and the Meuse valley and was opened in March 2006. Covering almost 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi), it forms part of the Natura 2000 network. The area is mostly heathland and pine forest. In May 2011 it was placed on UNESCO's Tentative List for consideration as a World Heritage Site.