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Last summer's Brexit vote changed the political landscape of Europeand brought with it the possibility of changes to the actual landscape as well. But the latest update to the map will be a small one: a new signpost in a German rapeseed field, now the heart of the European Union.

Sleepy Gadheim is about to be right in the middle of things.

Back in March, on the same day that the British government hand-delivered to the European Union its letter triggering the two-year Brexit countdown, the German town of Gadheim woke up to surprising news. The cartographers at France's Institut Gographique National had determined that, once Britain is gone in April 2019, the geographic center of the new EU will be located on a farm outside that tiny Bavarian village. The Institute keeps track of this important matter with a "centroid" calculation: They treat the EU map like a flat sheet of cardboard (one with holes for Switzerland andsoonthe United Kingdom). Then they find the point where you could balance that cardboard on the head of a pin.

The center of Europe is a moving target.

The Institut has been tracking the center point since the European Economic Community formed in 1957. Back then, the center was near historic Besanon, on the French-Swiss border. It moved west into Auvergne when Spain and Portugal joined in 1986, but has gradually drifted east since then, as former Communist bloc countries have joined the club. It moved to the town of Westerngrund in 2013 when Croatia became an EU memberthough it did jump a quarter-mile east when Mayotte, a French possession in the Indian Ocean, joined the EU in 2014.

A bittersweet countdown begins in Bavaria.

Westerngrund is sad to be losing its most prestigious landmark. "We always knew it was a gift lent to us for a limited amount of time," the mayor told The Guardian . The town has built a little park on the spot, with an EU flag on display and a flask that contains a little soil from each member nation. There are 6,000 tourist signatures in the visitor book, and the town is still discussing putting up a sausage stand there before Brexit is finalized in two years' time.

But Westerngrund's loss is Gadheim's gain.

Gadheim is a little village of just 89 people, and falls under the jurisdiction of Jrgen Gtz, the mayor of nearby Veitshoechheim. "We thought it was an April Fool's joke at first," Gtz told the French media . He thinks his home region, with its lovely vineyards and castles, was well worth a visit even before its new geographical distinction. "There's a pretty saying: 'God kissed the Earth only once, and that's where Veitshoechheim is.' Gadheim is a part of that," said the mayor.

Explore the world's oddities every week with Ken Jennings, and check out his book Maphead for more geography trivia.

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This Tiny German Village Will Be the New Center of the EU - Cond Nast Traveler