The strong ties Lier had developed with the Belgian military ever since in 1888 artillery barracks were built, continued after the World Wars. From 1955 to 1997 the barracks housed the Dutch-language "Royal School of Cadets|cadet school for the Belgian army". A prominent alumnus of this school is Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne. The site was vacated by the army in 1998, acquired by the city, and now houses city hall and the police department. Two artillery pieces are on display on city hall's patio, as a reminder to the building's past. The city of Lier is also patron city to the Belgian Army's "Second Artillery Regiment" (now termed the "Artillery Battalion"). Lier has an extensive downtown center. There are in excess of 70 bars within the city's medieval boundaries. During summertime, nightlife activity concentrates around the Zimmerplein. The city center is surrounded by the river Nete, which also cuts through it. Lier is divided into five main districts: Leuvensepoort, Mechelpoort, Lisp, the city centre and Koningshooikt. The last is a historic village that was administratively joined to the town as a sub-municipality in 1977. Source:    The "LIERRE" post-office opened before 1830. It used a zip code 74 (before 1864), and 218 with points before 1874. "KONINGSHOYCKT" opened on 5 March 1907. The zip code is 2500, since 1969 (Koningshooikt: 2578 in 1969). In 2004, Lier was the host for the third episode of "Fata Morgana", the TV show in which Belgian celebrities gave a city or town several challenges. The theme was "Lier 2020" and the inhabitants succeeded in completing all challenges.