History circle rediscovers Old Town halls in Lasne, Belgium
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Volunteers from the Lasne genealogy and history circle rediscovered 15 former town halls in Lasne and its villages, dating back to 1831.
The group began their research to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1977 municipal mergers orchestrated by Joseph Michel, Belgium’s Minister of the Interior at the time. These mergers combined Lasne and Chapelle-Saint-Lambert, which had previously merged in 1828, with Ohain, Maransart, Couture, and Plancenoit to form the current municipality of Lasne.
Researchers examined various sources, including the cadastral atlas created between 1842 and 1879 by Philippe-Christian Popp, an engineer-geographer, to locate the historic administrative buildings. They found four former town halls in Ohain, three each in Plancenoit and Couture, two in Maransart, and three in Lasne-Chapelle. The circle will present their findings at an exhibition during the Heritage Days on September 12 and 13 at the Ohain municipal school.
The exhibit will feature 16 panels with photos, maps, and explanations, and guided tours of the current town hall, classified as a heritage site in 1959, will be offered four times daily. Lasne’s mayor, Virginie Hermans-Poncelet, noted the exhibit demonstrates how Lasne is a unified yet distinct community, with each village maintaining its unique identity.
