Lommel

Lommel
City and municipality
St. Peter in Chains Church
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Lommel
Lommel Location in Belgium Location of Lommel in Limburg
Coordinates: 51°14′N 05°18′E / 51.233°N 5.300°E / 51.233; 5.300
Country	Belgium
Community	Flemish Community
Region	Flemish Region
Province	Limburg
Arrondissement	Maaseik
Government
• Mayor	Bob Nijs (CD&V)
• Governing party/ies	CD&V, NV-A
Area
• Total	102.28 km2 (39.49 sq mi)
Population  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	34,044
• Density	330/km2 (860/sq mi)
Postal codes	3920
NIS code	72020
Area codes	011
Website	www.lommel.be

Lommel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlɔməl]) is a municipality and a city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral district and the judicial district Lommel Neerpelt.

Besides residential town of Lommel also has a number of nature reserves, such as the nature reserve De Watering, the Lommel Sahara, and numerous forests and heathlands. Lommel is the third shopping city in Belgian Limburg with a commercial and shopping center De Singel. Importantly, the silver sand that is mined here for the benefit of the glass industry. Some sand mining quarries are transformed into nature reserves and recreational areas, including Lommel Sahara.

The city of Lommel is the watershed of the basins of the Scheldt, and Meuse, and within these basins Nete Dommel respectively.

Lommel was home to the maternity home Tamar for unmarried mothers and their children run by the Congregation of Kindsheid Jesu. Despite its religious mission to help young women, the institution became notorious for its involvement in numerous scandals, particularly surrounding forced adoptions, unwanted sterilizations of young girls, and serious forms of abuse directed at unmarried, pregnant women^[2].