Bakel is a village east of Helmond and Eindhoven in southern part of the Netherlands. The total population is approximately 5,000. Until the late 1990s it formed together with Milheeze and De Rips the municipality of Bakel and Milheeze but in 1997 it was forced to merge with the larger Gemert municipality. Bakel does not have old buildings with the exception of the Willibrordus Church which is the oldest in the area. However, during the 1970s, this church was modernized. In the 1990s it regained a little bit the old style decoration.