Kortrijk

Kortrijk, sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray, is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders.

With its 79,000 inhabitants Kortrijk is the capital and largest city of the judicial and administrative arrondissement of Kortrijk. The wider municipality comprises the city of Courtrai proper and the villages of Aalbeke, Bellegem, Bissegem, Heule, Kooigem, Marke, and Rollegem. Courtrai is also part of the cross-border Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai metropolitan area.The city is on the river Leie, 42 km southwest of Ghent and 25 km northeast of Lille. Mouscron in Wallonia is just south of Courtrai.

Courtrai originated from a Gallo-Roman town, Cortoriacum, at a crossroads near the Leie river and two Roman roads.