50°50N 4°21E, pop (2000e) 1 069 000 (including suburbs). Commercial and cultural city in Brabant province, Belgium; capital of Belgium, lying at the geographical mid-point of the country; divided into the Lower Town, intersected by several branches of the R Senne, and the Upper Town, set on the crest of the hills to the E; inner city surrounded by 18 suburbs with independent administrations; major mediaeval wool centre; capital of Spanish and Austrian Netherlands; headquarters of many international organizations, such as the European Union and NATO; linked to the North Sea by the Willebroek Canal; linguistic frontier between Flemings and Walloons runs just S of the city; officially Brussels is bilingual, but French predominates in the centre, Flemish in the suburbs; archbishopric; Brussels National Airport (Zaventem); railway; underground system; Free University of Brussels (1834); St Louis and St Aloysius private universities; industry largely outside the city, leaving the centre to the service sector; textiles, lace, carpets, porcelain, glass, metals, cement, chemicals, engineering, electronics and electrical goods, vehicles, publishing, brewing, tobacco, foodstuffs; Royal Military School; several royal academies of fine arts and royal conservatories; town hall (15th18th-c), royal palace (18279, rebuilt 1905); Palais de la Nation (177983); cathedral (13th15th-c), Church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle (begun 1210); Ommegang (processions, Jul).
| City of Brussels | |||||
| Brussels skyline seen from the Kunstberg or Mont des Arts | |||||
|
|||||
|
Nickname: "The Capital Of Europe, Comic City
City of a 100 Museums" |
|||||
| Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium | |||||
| Coordinates: 50°50′37″N, 4°21′27″E | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Belgium | ||||
| Region | Brussels-Capital Region | ||||
| Founded | 797 | ||||
| Founded (Region) | June 18, 1989 | ||||
| Mayor (Municipality) | Freddy Thielemans | ||||
| Area | |||||
| - City | 162 (Region) km² (62.5 sq mi) | ||||
| Elevation | 13 m (43 ft) | ||||
| Population | |||||
| - City (2005) | 140,000 (Municipality) | ||||
| - Density | 200/km² (656/sq mi) | ||||
| - Metro | 1,975,000 | ||||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||||
| Website: www.bruxelles.irisnet.be | |||||
Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl], and sometimes [bʁyksɛl] by non-Belgian speakers of French;
Brussels is, first of all, a city located in the centre of Belgium and is its capital, but it sometimes also refers to the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region. This municipality inside Brussels is correctly named The City of Brussels (French: Bruxelles-Ville or Ville de Bruxelles, Dutch: Stad Brussel), which is one of 19 municipalities that make up the Brussels-Capital Region (see also: Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region). Regions are one component of Belgium's complex institutions, the three communities being the other component: the Brussels inhabitants must deal with either the French (speaking) community or the Flemish Community for matters such as culture and education.
Brussels is also the capital of both the French Community of Belgium (Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles in French) and of Flanders (Vlaanderen);
Two of the main institutions of the European Union - the European Commission and the Council of the European Union - have their headquarters in Brussels: the Commission in the Berlaymont building and the Council in the Justus Lipsius building facing it.
Brussels is also the political seat of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Western European Union (WEU) and EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Due to this, some countries have three ambassadors present in Brussels: the normal bi-lateral ambassador, the EU-ambassador, and finally the NATO-ambassador. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual, while the majority of its residents speak French (see the linguistic history of Brussels in this article: linguistic situation section).
The highest building in Brussels is the South Tower (150 m);
Etymology
The name Brussels comes from the old Dutch Bruocsella, Brucsella or Broekzele, which means "marsh (bruoc, bruc or broek) home (sella or zele)" or "home consisting of one room, in the marsh".
In 1041 the county of Brussels was taken over by Lambert I of Leuven, one of the Counts of Leuven who ruled the surrounding county, later the Duchy of Brabant.
In the 15th century, by means of the wedding of heiress Margaret III of Flanders with Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, a new Duke of Brabant emerged from the House of Valois (namely Antoine, their son), with another line of descent from the Habsburgs (Maximilian of Austria, later Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, married Mary of Burgundy, who was born in Brussels).
Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished.
Charles V, heir of the Low Countries since 1506, though (as he was only 6 years old) governed by his aunt Margaret of Austria until 1515, was declared King of the unified Spain, in 1516, in the Cathedral of Saint Gudule in Brussels.
In 1695 Brussels was attacked by general Villeroy of King Louis XIV of France.
In 1830, the Belgian revolution took place in Brussels after a performance of Auber's opera La Muette de Portici at De Munt or La Monnaie theatre.
From May 10, 1940, Brussels was bombed by the German army however most of the damage was done in 1944-1945. The Brussels Capital Region was founded on June 18, 1989.
Brussels is famous for celebrating its history, as well as history in general.
Brussels as capital of Belgium
ville" and "stad" in Article 194 for "ville de Bruxelles" (French), "stad Brussel" (Dutch) makes a subtle difference and means that Brussels at large is the capital cannot be defended on a legal basis. However, although the City of Brussels is the official capital, the by the federation and region delegated funds for the representative role of the capital are divided among the 19 municipalities and in practice, national Belgian institutions are indeed not only located in the City of Brussels, although many are, but also in most of the other 18 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital region. Meaning that de factothe entire Region serves as capital, but de jureonly the City of Brussels is entitled to the title of capital city of Belgium. Throughout Brussels, (also nicknamed Comic City) there are many murals and frescos celebrating the city's many cartoon heroes. On the site of the Heysel/Heizel are the atomium, one of the symbols of Belgium, a remnant of the 1958 World exposition in Brussels, and Mini-Europe, a park which hosts miniature models of famous European buildings.Linguistic situation
Brussels Capital Region is officially bilingual French-Dutch, although French, mother tongue of the majority of the population, is the lingua franca and is most widely used. Research in the city's archives indicates that Dutch was by far the most widely used of the two as a vernacular and in its local administration, until the French occupation in 1793, even though French had been the language of the governors since the Burgundian era (probably some governors also spoke Dutch). In the capital Brussels, it was even more obvious that French rather than Dutch was the language of chances and prestige and more useful, as higher education and the better jobs all required French.
Nowadays, the Brussels Capital Region is officially bilingual French-Dutch, although French is the lingua franca and is most widely used. Since Brussels is completely surrounded by Flemish territory, the number of Dutch speakers is quite large during working hours and in cultural consumption time.
It should be noted that due to the growth of the city of Brussels, the periphery, which is institutionally part of Dutch-speaking Flanders, attracts an important French-speaking population. In some of the municipalities immediately bordering the Brussels Capital Region, the majority of the population has become French-speaking, in a few cases numbering over 70%. One way of quickly identifying whether you are in Brussels or in Flanders is by looking at the colors on the pilars of the traffic lights: they are red and white in Brussels, and yellow and black in Flanders.
Universities and colleges
Brussels has several universities, the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the Facultés Universitaires Saint Louis (FUSL), the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel (KUB) and the Royal Military Academy (RMA).
Transport
Brussels is served by Brussels National Airport, located in the nearby Flemish municipality of Zaventem, and by Brussels South Airport, located near Charleroi (Wallonia), some 80km from Brussels.
The Brussels metro dates back to 1976 (but underground lines known as premetro have been serviced by tramways since 1968). Brussels also has its own port on the Willebroek canal located in the northwest of the city.
There are four companies managing public transport inside Brussels:
STIB/MIVB (metro, bus, tram;Railway stations
The major stations in Brussels are on the North-South Junction:
Brussels North (Dutch: Brussel-Noord, French: Gare du Nord) Brussels Central (Dutch: Brussel-Centraal, French: Gare Centrale) Brussels Midi (Dutch: Brussel-Zuid, French: Gare du Midior Bruxelles-Midi) (the Eurostar, Thalys, HST or TGV and ICE international terminal)Two more stations serve the EU district in Brussels. Trains towards Namur and Luxembourg call at:
Brussels Luxembourg/Luxemburg Brussels SchumanThe last two stations located in the centre of Brussels (they also are on the North-South Junction and operate only in rush hours) are:
Brussels Congress (French: Bruxelles-Congrès, Dutch:Brussel-Congres) Brussels Chapel (French: Bruxelles-Chapelle, Dutch: Brussel-Kapellekerk)Other railway stations in other Brussels municipalities include:
Schaerbeek(Dutch: Schaarbeek) Etterbeek Uccle Stalle(Dutch: Ukkel Stalle) Uccle Calevoet(Dutch: Ukkel Kalevoet) Jette Merode Delta Saint-Job(Dutch: Sint-Job) Forest Est(Dutch: Vorst Oost) Forest Midi(Dutch: Vorst Zuid) Berchem Sainte-Agathe(Dutch: Sint-Agatha-Berchem) Watermael(Dutch: Watermaal) Boitsfort(Dutch: Bosvoorde) Boondael(Dutch: Boondaal) MeiserRoad network
In mediaeval times Brussels stood at the intersection of routes running north-south (the modern Hoogstraat/Rue Haute) and east-west (Gentsesteenweg/Chaussée de Gand-Grasmarkt/Rue du Marché aux Herbes-Naamsestraat/Rue de Namur).
As one expects of a capital city, Brussels is the hub of the fan of old national roads, the principal ones being clockwise the N1 (N to Breda), N2 (E to Maastricht), N3 (E to Aachen), N4 (SE to Luxembourg) N5 (S to Reims), N6 (SW to Maubeuge), N8 (W to Koksijde) and N9 (NW to Ostend) . Brussels has an orbital motorway, numbered R0 (R-zero) and commonly referred to as the "ring" (French: ring Dutch: grote ring).
The city centre, sometimes known as "the pentagon", is surrounded by the "small ring" (Dutch: kleine ring, French: petite ceinture), a sequence of boulevards formally numbered R20.
On the eastern side of the city, the R21 (French: grande ceinture, no particular name in Dutch) is formed by a string of boulevards that curves round from Laken (Laeken) to Ukkel (Uccle).
Conferences and world fairs
Brussels hosted the famous fifth Solvay Conference in 1927, where physicists like Albert Einstein, Planck, Curie, Lorentz, Dirac, De Broglie, Borh, Schrödinger, Pauli and Heisenberg discussed about the path of the modern physics, specifically the new Quantum Theory.
Brussels hosted the third Congrès international d'architecture moderne(Dutch:Internationaal Congres voor Moderne Architectuur) in 1930.
Two world fairs took place in Brussels, the Exposition universelle et internationale (1935) and the World Expo '58 in 1958.
Throughout 2003, Brussels celebrated native son Jacques Brel on the 25th anniversary of his death.
Notable parks
Parc de Bruxelles(Dutch: Warandepark), wrongly called Parc Royal(Dutch: Koninklijk Park) Bois de la Cambre(Dutch: Ter Kamerenbos) Cinquantenaire(Dutch: Jubelpark) Parc de Laeken(Dutch: Park van Laken) Parc de Woluwe(Dutch: Park van Woluwe) Parc Josaphat(Dutch : Josaphatpark) Parc Roi Baudouin(Dutch: Koning Boudewijnpark) KaubergJardin botanique(Dutch Plantentuin) Parc Léopold(Dutch: Leopoldpark) Jardins du Maelbeek(Dutch : Maalbeektuinen) Parc Duden(Dutch : Dudenpark) Parc Astrid(Dutch : Astridpark)Notable people from Brussels
See also: Notable people from Brussels
Pierre Alechinsky, artist Plastic Bertrand, musician Brian Molko, lead singer of the band Placebo Jacques Brel, musician Rene Carcan, artist Michel De Ghelderode, dramatist Marc Didden, film director Saint Gudulae of Brussels and Eibingen, Saint of the city and national saint of Belgium Audrey Hepburn, actress Hergé, comics writer Victor Horta, Art Nouveau architect Jacky Ickx, racing driver Paul-Emile Janson, politician, former Prime Minister of Belgium René Magritte, painter Amélie Nothomb, writer Peyo (Pierre Culliford), illustrator and creator of the Smurfs François Schuiten, comics artist Paul-Henri Spaak, politician, several times Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister of Belgium, former Secretary General of the NATO Toots Thielemans, jazz musician Jean-Claude Van Damme, actor; Brussels, basketball
User Comments Add a comment…