ANDERLECHT

municipality, Brabant province, central Belgium. It lies along the Charleroi-Brussels Canal, just southwest of Brussels, and is one of the 19 communes making up the Greater Brussels area. A natural clearing in the primitive forest where foundations of a Roman villa and Frankish cemeteries have been found, Anderlecht is believed to be the original site of what is now Brussels. It is now chiefly a residential and manufacturing suburb; its industries include textiles, leather, chemicals, lumber, paper, and glassware. Medieval remains include the Church of Saints Peter and Guidon, containing an 11th-century crypt of Saint Guidon (the patron saint of farm animals), and a bguinage (retreat for secular nuns) dating from 1252. A museum commemorating a visit in 1521 by Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch scholar, is located in the municipality, as is a university hospital attached to the Free University of Brussels. Pop. (1990 est.) mun., 89,231.