Blankenberge is a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Blankenberge proper and the settlement of Uitkerke. On 1 January 2006 Blankenberge had a total population of 18,175. The total area of the municipality is 17.41 km˛, giving a population density of 1,044 inhabitants per km˛. There is a sandy beach and a structure unique along the Belgian coast: a 350-m long pier, constructed in 1933. Famous inhabitants were Adolf Eugen Fick, the inventor of the contact lens, who died in Blankenberge in 1901, and Flemish painter and woodcutter Frans Masereel, born here in 1889.
