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{{Short description|City in Hainaut Province, Wallonia, Belgium}}
{{Infobox Belgium municipality
|name             = Lessines
|native_name      = {{native_name|pcd|Lissene}}
|namenl           = Lessen
|picture          = Lessines JPG1 HoNdR.jpg
|picture-legend   =
|map              = Lessines Hainaut Belgium Map.svg
|map-legend       = Location of Lessines in Hainaut
|arms             = Blason ville BE Lessines.svg
|flag             = Lessines Belgium.svg
|province         = [[Hainaut Province|Hainaut]]
|arrondissement   = [[Arrondissement of Ath|Ath]]
|nis              = 51069
|mayor            = Pascal De Handschutter (PS)
|majority         = [[Socialist Party (Belgium)|PS]] - [[Reformist Movement|ENSEMBLE (MR)]] - [[Les Engagés|OSER cdH]]
|postal-codes     = 7860 '''Lessines''' <br />7861 [[Papignies]]<br /> 7861 [[Wannebecq]]<br />7862 [[Ogy, Belgium|Ogy]]<br />7863 [[Ghoy]]<br />7864 [[Deux-Acren]]<br />7866 [[Bois-de-Lessines]]<br />7866 [[Ollignies]]
|telephone-area   = 068
|web              = {{website|http://www.lessines.be/}}
|coordinates      = {{coord|50|43|N|03|50|E|region:BE|display=inline,title}}
}}

'''Lessines''' ({{IPA|fr|lɛsin|lang|LL-Q150 (fra)-Manestra-Lessines.wav}}; {{langx|pcd|Lissene}}; {{langx|wa|Lissene}}; {{langx|nl|Lessen}} {{IPA|nl|ˈlɛsə(n)||Nl-lessen.ogg}}) is a city and [[Municipalities of Belgium|municipality]] of [[Wallonia]] located in the [[Hainaut Province|province of Hainaut]], [[Belgium]]. As of the 2014 census, The municipality's total population was 18,637. The total area is {{convert|72.29|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} which gives a [[population density]] of 247 inhabitants per km<sup>2</sup>.

The municipality consists of the following [[deelgemeente|districts]]: [[Bois-de-Lessines]], [[Deux-Acren]], [[Ghoy]], Lessines, [[Ogy, Belgium|Ogy]], [[Ollignies]], [[Papignies]], and [[Wannebecq]].

Lessines is a municipality of [[Picardy Wallonia]]. It is primarily known as the birthplace of the [[Surrealism|surrealist]] painter [[René Magritte]].

==History==
{{Expand section|date=June 2015}}

===Postal history===
The Lessines post office opened before 1830. It used postal code 71 with bars (before 1864), and 214 with points before 1874. Deux-Acren post office opened on 15 May 1866. It used postal code 104 with points before 1874. The Papignies post office opened on 18 February 1880, Ghoy and Ollignies on 25 May 1905, and Ogy on 5 November 1907.<ref>Catalogue Spécialisé des Oblitérations Belges, Nationale en Internationale Postzegelmanifestaties Antwerpen (NIPA), Antwerp, 1999.</ref>

Postal codes in 1969:<ref>Liste des Numéros Postaux, Administration des Postes, Bruxelles 1969.</ref> 7850 Ollignies - 7851 Bois-de-Lessines - 7860 Lessines - 7861 Papignies - 7862 Ogy - 7863 Ghoy - 7870 Deux-Acren

Postal codes since at least 1990: 7860 Lessines - 7861 Papignies, Wannebecq (not opened in 1969) - 7862 Ogy - 7863 Ghoy - 7864 Deux-Acren - 7866 Bois-de-Lessines, Ollignies

==Culture==
The [[Underwear Museum]], created by [[Jan Bucquoy]], is in Lessines; it moved from Brussels to Lessines in 2016.<ref name=BoyleTheBulletinMoves>{{cite magazine|author=Boyle, Robyn|url=https://www.thebulletin.be/underwear-museum-moves-brussels-lessines|title=Underwear Museum moves from Brussels to Lessines|magazine=[[The Bulletin (Brussels weekly)|The Bulletin]]|date=2016-09-25|accessdate=2018-08-27}}</ref> The Hospital of Our Lady with the Rose, [[List of World Heritage Sites in Belgium|a tentative World Heritage site]], and the [[Castle of l'Estriverie]] are also in Lessines.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Sint-Pieterskerk (Lessen) 11-05-2021 12-36-17.jpg|Church of St. Peter
File:Lessines hopiral cloitre.jpg|''Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose'' ("Hospital of Our Lady with the Rose")
File:Lessines SI1aJPG.jpg|Quarry of Porphyre
File:0 Lessines 050918 (29).jpg|''Lessinia Vrbs'' from ''Het steden-Boek'' by [[:w:Joan Blaeu|Joan Blaeu]], c. 1649
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.lessines.be Official website] (in [[French language|French]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071021195852/http://www.lessines.net/index.php?lang=en Another site], with further information on the city (in French, [[Dutch language|Dutch]], and [[English language|English]])
* [http://www.lessinesinfo.com/  Another site], with information in French

{{Geographic location
|Centre = Lessines
|N  = [[Brakel, Belgium|Brakel]] ([[East Flanders|VOV]]), [[Geraardsbergen]] ([[East Flanders|VOV]])
|E  = [[Bever, Belgium|Bever]] ([[Flemish Brabant|VBR]])
|SE = [[Silly, Belgium|Silly]]
|S  = [[Ath]]
|W  = [[Ellezelles]]
|NW = [[Flobecq]]
}}
{{Hainaut}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cities in Wallonia]]
[[Category:Municipalities of Hainaut Province]]


{{Hainaut-geo-stub}}