- For other uses, see Brussels (disambiguation).
Brussels (Dutch: Brussel, French: Bruxelles, German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium and is
considered by many to be the de facto capital of the European
Union, as two of its three main institutions have their headquarters in the city.
Overview
Brussels is first of all a city located in the middle of Belgium and 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: de Stad Brussel), which is one of 19
municipalities that make up the Brussels-Capital Region. The municipality
has a population of about 140,000 while the Brussels-Capital Region has almost a million inhabitants.
See also: Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region.
The Brussels-Capital Region is a region of Belgium in its own right, alongside the Flemish Region and Wallonia. Geographically, it is an enclave of the Flemish Region. Regions are one component of Belgium's complex institutions,
the three communities being "the" other component: the Brussels inhabitants must deal with the either the French (speaking) community or the Flemish Community for matters such as culture and education.
Brussels is also the capital of the French
Community of Belgium (Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles in French) and of Flanders; all Flemish capital institutions are established there: Flemish Parliament, Flemish
governement and its administration.
Two of the three 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. The third main institution of the European Union, the European Parliament, also has a parliamentary chamber in Brussels in
which its committee meetings and some of its plenary sessions are held (the other plenary sessions are held in Strasbourg, and its administrative headquarters are in Luxembourg).
Brussels is also the political seat of NATO, i.e. the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation, and the Western European Union (WEU).
The "language frontier" divides Belgium into a northern, Dutch-speaking, region and a southern, French-speaking, region. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual, while the majority of its residents speaks French (see the linguistic history of Brussels in this
article's history section).
The highest building in Brussels is the South
Tower (150m), the most famous probably the Atomium, which is a remnant from
Expo '58.
Etymology
The name Brussels comes Bruocsella, Brucsella or Broekzele, which means "marsh (bruoc, bruc
or broek) home (sella or zele)" or "home in the marsh". "Broekzele" was spelt "Bruxelles" in French. In
Belgian French pronunciation as well as in Dutch, the "k" eventually disappeared and "z" became "s", as reflected in the
current Dutch spelling.
History
A small castle was built around 979 near the Senne.
The small town became in the 12th century an important stop on the commercial road from Bruges to Cologne.
The Heysel Stadium disaster took place in Brussels
on May 29, 1985.
Linguistic history
The Brussels Capital Region is currently home for both French- and Dutch-speakers, the former accounting for about 80% of its
population. Dutch, or more precisely its "linguistic predecessors", was however the language of the city from its foundation. In
those first 6 centuries, French was only used in the relations with the then "Romance-speaking" (linguistic predecessors of
French) areas around Nivelles. During the Austrian period, 'Dutch' remained the popular language in Brussels, and French was for
several centuries only spoken by the haute-bourgeoisie and the nobility. It started becoming only a somewhat popular language
under the French regime, and especially after 1830, by the immigration of many French (revolutionaries and others) and many
Walloons, attracted by the new Belgian authorities. As in 1830, only the haute-bourgeoisie and the nobility (1% of the
population) had voting rights, these groups wanted to fashion the new state along their personal preferences. As a result, they
had to attract many French-speaking Walloons to staff the public services.
The area, which is geographically situated in the south of Flanders, was still mostly Dutch-speaking until the middle of the
20th century. During the 19th and 20th century, more and more
French-speaking civil servants coming from Wallonia settled in Brussels and persistent social, administrative, cultural and
political pressure made many Flemings switch their vernacular to French.
The Brussels-Capital region nowadays is officially French-Dutch bilingual and some municipalities in Flanders around Brussels have special linguistic facilities to protect the right of the French-speaking minorities.
On 4 September 1998 the Council of Europe published a
resolution entitled "Situation of the French-speaking population living in the Brussels periphery" [1] (http://assembly.coe.int/documents/workingdocs/doc98/edoc8182.htm) which focussed on a
linguistic conflict affecting six communes in Flanders, and made recommendations to both the Flemish government and the
French-speaking inhabitants.
The International Labour Organisation, a UN agency, reported ([2] (http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/migrant/papers/imp23/ch10.htm)) the results of
an experiment involving two testers applying for jobs in Belgium, where the Moroccan job applicant was discriminated against in
favour of the Belgian.
On the one hand, many Flemings complain about strong pressure from French-speakers against the bilingual status within the
Brussels-Capital region. The Belgian judiciary has never engaged in any official investigation; all such complaints are still
pending. In the early 90's, an official declaration from the regional government explicitly acknowledged that social housing was
de facto reserved entirely for those applying in French. As late as 2003, Rudy
Demotte, the federal Minister of Public Health and a French-speaking socialist, has publicly acknowledged that urgent medical
services discriminated against Dutch speakers, in the sense that it was often difficult for Dutch speakers to use their own
language [3] (http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc03/FDOC10009.htm).
On the other hand, there are reports and claims of discrimination against French-speakers in the outskirts of Brussels
regarding access to health care, using their own language, and social housing
[4] (http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc04/EDOC10115.htm) [5] (http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc02/EDOC9536.htm) [6] (http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/AdoptedText/TA98/eres1172.htm).
Though no official census has been made for a long time, the French-speaking population in Brussels accounts for about 80% of
the population. In recent years, the Flemish region is taking measures to decrease this percentage (by offering STIB subscription
to Flemish students in Brussels and by giving the proceeds to Flemish people settling in the city).
Universities
Brussels has several universities, two of them being the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). A satellite campus of the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) is
also located in Brussels: it is called "Louvain-en-Woluwe" or "UCL-Brussels", and hosts the faculty of Medicine of the
university.
Transport
Brussels is served by Brussels National
Airport, located in the municipality of Zaventem, and by Brussels South
Airport, located near Charleroi, some 80km from Brussels. Brussels' major
train stations link the city to the United Kingdom by Eurostar, and to major European cities by high speed rail links (such as the Thalys).
The Brussels metro dates back to 1976. A comprehensive bus and tram network also covers the city. Brussels also has its own port on the Willebroek canal located in the North-East.
There are four companies managing public transport inside Brussels :
- STIB (metro, bus, tram)
- SNCB (train)
- TEC (bus)
- De Lijn (bus)
The first two work together as a STIB ticket holder can use the train freely inside the city. The last two are especially used
by respectively Walloons and Flemish as it is expensive (in regard with the number of lines) for people living in Brussels
(assuming they mostly use STIB network). Those companies goal (in Brussels) is to permit people living in the suburbs to join the
capital city. This purpose is shared by SNCB as they will soon install a RER network around
Brussels.
Railway stations
The major stations in Brussels are on the North-South
Junction:
- Brussels North (French: Gare du Nord, Dutch: Brussel-Noord)
- Brussels Central (French: Gare Centrale, Dutch: Brussel-Centraal)
- Brussels South (French: Gare du Midi or Bruxelles-Midi, Dutch: Brussel-Zuid) (the Eurostar, Thalys, TGV and ICE international terminal)
Two more stations serve the EU district in Brussels. Trains towards Namur and Luxembourg call here :
- Brussels Luxembourg
- Brussels Schuman
The last two stations located in the municipality of Brussels (they also are on the North-South Junction) 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
- Mérode
- Delta
- Saint-Job (Dutch : Sint-Job)
- Forest Est (Dutch: Vorst Oost)
- Forest Midi (Dutch: Vorst Zuid)
- Berchem Sainte-Agathe (Dutch: Sint-Agatha Berchem)
- Saint-Gilles (Dutch: Sint-Gillis)
- Watermael (Dutch: Watermaal)
- Boitsfort (Dutch: Bosvoorde)
- Boondael
- Meiser
Road network
Brussels has an orbital motorway,
the R0. It is commonly referred to as the "ring".
The city centre, sometimes known as "the pentagon" is surrounded by the "inner ring" (French: petite ceinture), which
follows much of the same route as the metro line 2, both of which were built upon the site of the old city walls following their
demolition.
Finally, the "outer ring" (French: grande ceinture) is formed by great boulevards and is located between the "inner
ring" and the R0 ring. Some premetro stations (see Brussels
metro) were built on that route.
Conferences and world fairs
Brussels hosted the third Congrès international d'architecture moderne in 1930.
Two world fairs took place in Brussels, the Exposition universelle et internationale (1935) and the Expo '58 in 1958. The Atomium, a
103 metre representation of an iron crystal was built for the Expo '58, and is still
there.
Throughout 2003, Brussels celebrated native son Jacques Brel on the 25th anniversary of his death.
Notable parks
- Parc de Bruxelles (Dutch:
Park van Brussel), wrongly called Parc Royal (Dutch: Koninklijk Park)
- Bois de la Cambre (Dutch: Ter Kamerenbos)
- Cinquantenaire (Dutch: Jubelpark)
- Parc de Laeken
- Parc de Woluwé
(Dutch: Park van Woluwe)
- Parc Josaphat
- Parc Roi
Baudouin
- Kauberg
- Jardin
botanique
- Parc Léopold
- Jardins du
Maelbeek
- Parc Duden
- Parc Astrid
Notable people from Brussels
Sports clubs
Concert halls
- Ancienne Belgique
- Beurschouwburg
- Botanique
- Espace Senghor
- Forest National (Dutch: Vorst Nationaal)
- Vaartkapoen
Museums
Other
External links
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