Nicolas-Jean Rouppe

Nicolas-Jean Rouppe
Nicolas-Jean Rouppe
Born	(1768-04-17)17 April 1768 Rotterdam, Dutch Republic
Died	3 August 1838(1838-08-03) (aged 70) Brussels, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Occupation	politician

Nicolas-Jean Rouppe (French pronunciation: [nikɔla ʒɑ̃ ʁup]; in Dutch also: Nikolaus Joannes Rouppe) (baptised 17 April 1768 – 3 August 1838) was a Belgian liberal politician. He was the first mayor of the City of Brussels after Belgian independence in 1830.

Life and career

Nicolas-Jean Rouppe was born in Rotterdam, and became a sub-deacon of the order of the Carmelites, but he broke radically with his faith in 1792, the day after Battle of Jemappes between the French Revolutionary and Austrian armies on 6 November 1792. That year, he also provoked a riot by destroying the cross in Leuven's Town Hall. Under the French regime, he became commissioner of the department of the Dyle. On 21 July 1803, he received Napoleon at the Palace of Laeken.

After the Belgian Revolution in 1830, he was a member of the National Congress. Later, he became a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. From 1830 up to 1838, he was burgomaster of Brussels. As burgomaster, he also received the new king Leopold I of Belgium at the Palace of Laeken on 21 July 1831, the day Leopold swore allegiance to the Belgian Constitution. Together with Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, Nicolas-Jean Rouppe is also one of the initiators of the Free University of Brussels.

Rouppe died in Brussels, and is buried in Laeken Cemetery. A square in central Brussels, the Place Rouppe/Rouppeplein, is named after him.

See also

• List of mayors of the City of Brussels

Sources

• Du Bois, A., Les bourgmestres de Bruxelles, in : Revue de Belgique, April 1896, p. 365-396.
• Spreutels, J.-P., Une bonne action de Nicolas Rouppe sous l'occupation française, in : Cahiers Bruxellois, XIX, 1974, p. 84-85.

External links

Media related to Nicolas Rouppe at Wikimedia Commons