City of Brussels From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search This article is about the municipality. For the greater urban area with the status of Capital Region, see Brussels. City of Brussels Ville de Bruxelles / Bruxelles-Ville (French) Stad Brussel / Brussel-Stad (Dutch) Municipality Panorama of the city centre from the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg Panorama of the city centre from the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg Flag of City of Brussels Flag Coat of arms of City of Brussels Coat of arms City of Brussels is located in BelgiumCity of BrusselsCity of Brussels Location in Belgium The City of Brussels within Brussels-Capital Region Coordinates: 50°50′48″N 04°21′09″ECoordinates: 50°50′48″N 04°21′09″E Country Belgium Community Flemish Community French Community Region Brussels Arrondissement Brussels Government • Mayor (list) Philippe Close (PS) • Governing party/ies PS - MR Area • Total 32.61 km2 (12.59 sq mi) Population (2018-01-01)[1] • Total 179,277 • Density 5,500/km2 (14,000/sq mi) Postal codes 1000, 1020, 1030 1040, 1050, 1060 1083, 1120, 1130 1190 Area codes 02 Website www.brussels.be The City of Brussels (French: ville de Bruxelles [vil də bʁysɛl] or alternatively Bruxelles-Ville [bʁysɛl vil]; Dutch: Stad Brussel [stɑd ˈbrʏsəl][2] or Brussel-Stad) is the largest municipality and historical centre of the Brussels-Capital Region, and the capital of Belgium.[3] Besides the strict centre, it also covers the immediate northern outskirts where it borders municipalities in Flanders. It is the administrative centre of the European Union, thus often dubbed, along with the region, the EU's capital city. The City of Brussels is a municipality consisting of the central historic town and certain additional areas within the greater Brussels-Capital Region, namely Haren, Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek to the north, as well as Avenue Louise/Louizalaan and the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos park to the south. As of 1 January 2017, the City of Brussels had a total population of 176,545. The total area is 32.61 km2 (12.59 sq mi) which gives a population density of 5,475 inhabitants per square kilometre (14,180/sq mi). As of 2007, there were approximately 50,000 registered non-Belgians in the City of Brussels.[4] In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). Contents 1 Territorial history 2 Districts 2.1 Pentagon 2.1.1 Central District 2.1.2 Royal District 2.1.3 Sablon/Zavel District 2.1.4 Marolles/Marollen District 2.1.5 Midi–Lemonnier District or Stalingrad District 2.1.6 Senne/Zenne District or Dansaert District 2.1.7 Quays District or Maritime District 2.1.8 Marais–Jacqmain District 2.1.9 Freedom District 2.2 Eastern districts 2.2.1 European District and Leopold Quarter 2.3 Northern districts 2.3.1 Laeken 2.3.2 Mutsaard 2.3.3 Neder-Over-Heembeek 2.3.4 Haren 3 Mayors 4 Culture 5 Honorary citizens 6 Heraldry 7 Vexillology 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Territorial history Engraving of Brussels from c. 1610 At first, the City of Brussels was simply defined, being the area within the second walls of Brussels, the modern-day small ring. As the city grew, the surrounding villages grew as well, eventually growing into a contiguous city, though the local governments retained control of their respective areas. The construction of Avenue Louise/Louizalaan was commissioned in 1847 as a monumental avenue bordered by chestnut trees that would allow easy access to the popular recreational area of the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos. However, fierce resistance to the project was put up by the town of Ixelles (which was then still separate from Brussels) through whose land the avenue was supposed to run. After years of fruitless negotiations, Brussels finally annexed the narrow band of land needed for the avenue plus the Bois de la Cambre itself in 1864. That decision accounts for the unusual southeastern protrusion of the City of Brussels and for Ixelles being split in two separate parts. Part of the Université libre de Bruxelles' Solbosch campus is also part of the City of Brussels, partially accounting for the bulge in the southeast end. Unlike most of the municipalities in Belgium, the ones located in the Brussels-Capital Region were not merged with others during mergers occurring in 1964, 1970, and 1975.[5] However, a few neighbouring municipalities have been merged into the City of Brussels, including Haren, Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek in 1921.[6] These comprise the northern bulge in the municipality. To the south-east is also a strip of land along Avenue Louise that was annexed from Ixelles. Districts Pentagon Districts of Brussels Central District It is in the heart of the Saint-Géry/Sint-Goriks Island, formed by the Senne and on which a first keep was built around 979, that the origin of the city is located. Today, the neighbourhood around the Halles Saint-Géry/Sint-Gorikshallen, a former covered market, is one of the trendy districts of the capital. In the centre of the city, there are some vestiges of the 13th-century first walls of Brussels, which surrounded the first port on the Senne, the Romanesque church, later replaced by the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, and the ducal castle of Coudenberg (Royal Quarter). In the centre of this triangle are the Grand Place, the Îlot Sacré district (which takes its name from its resistance to demolition projects), itself crossed by the Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries, the Saint-Jacques/Sint-Jacobs district which welcomed the pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, and the Brussels Stock Exchange, built on the site of a former convent, whose remains have been uncovered. Manneken Pis Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula Brussels Stock Exchange Le Cracheur fountain Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries Royal District Thus named because it houses, on the one hand, the Place Royale/Koningsplein, built under Charles-Alexander of Lorraine on the Coudenberg hill, on the site of the former Palace of the Dukes of Brabant, of which certain levels of foundation still exist, and on the other hand, the Royal Palace of Brussels, which faces Brussels' Park, on the other side of which is the Belgian Parliament. Below is the Central Station and the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg where the Royal Library of Belgium, the Royal Belgian Film Archive (Cinematek), the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts, the Museum of Cinema, the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), the BELvue Museum, and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium are located. Museum Square Brussels' Park Royal Palace Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium Academy Palace Sablon/Zavel District From the Place Royale/Koningsplein, Rue de la Régence/Regentschapsstraat crosses the neighbourhoods of the Small and Large Sablon/Zavel, a swanky district where the Church of Our Blessed Lady of the Sablon is located and where an antiques market is held, in which antique and art dealers, as well as other luxury shops, have businesses. Not far from there was the Art Nouveau Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis by Victor Horta until its demolition in 1965. The Sablon is also home to the Egmont Palace and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Royal Conservatory Fountain of Minerva Egmont Palace Church of Our Blessed Lady of the Sablon Fountain of the counts of Egmont and Horn Marolles/Marollen District In the shadow of the gigantic Palace of Justice lies the old Marolles/Marollen district (not to be confused with the Marolle that purists delimit to only 7 streets). From the Place de la Chapelle/Kapellemarkt to the Place du Jeu de Balle/Vossenplein, where a daily flea market has been held since 1873, along Rue Haute/Hogestraat and Rue Blaes/Blaestraat, second-hand and popular shops have for some years given way to antique shops, marking a profound change to the neighbourhood. The Hellemans City, a remarkable example of early 20th-century collective housing complexes, was built on the site of the neighbourhood's many squalid cul-de-sacs. Rue Haute, one of the longest and oldest streets in the city, follows the course of an old Gallo-Roman road, and runs along the Saint Pierre Hospital, built in 1935 on the site of a leper hospital, to end at the Halle Gate, the only survivor of the series of gates which allowed passage inside the second walls of Brussels. Place du Jeu de Balle/Vossenplein, end of a market Hellemans City, Rue Blaes Brigittines Chapel Palace of Justice Halle Gate Midi–Lemonnier District or Stalingrad District It is in the heart of this district, where Rouppe Square is today, that Brussels' first South Station was located in 1839, the terminus of the South Line, called Bogards' Station for the eponymous convent whose site it was built on, and to which Rue des Bogards/Bogaardenstraat is nowadays the only reference. The presence of a station at this location explains the unusual width of the current Avenue of Stalingrad, which goes from the square to the small ring road, cleared of its railways since the inauguration of Brussels-South Station, built outside the Pentagon in 1869. At the same time, following the covering of the Senne, the neighbourhood saw the construction of haussmannian grand central boulevards, including Maurice Lemonnier Boulevard, bordered by Fontainas Square and Anneessens Square (location of the former Old Market), as well as by the Midi Palace. Each Sunday morning, the Midi district plays host to the second largest market in Europe. Rouppe Square and Avenue of Stalingrad