Page 59 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Belgium & Luxembourg

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Brussels

The capital of belgium, and effectively the capital of the
european union, brussels has always been a hub of trade
and politics. yet, despite its international prominence, the
city retains an intimate, human scale, with a web of medieval
streets centring upon the superb grand Place. brussels’s glorious
architecture and gilded spires rise over high-fashion boutiques
and quaint, time-warped taverns and cafés.
The origin of Brussels lies in the Frankish all the street names are in both French
settlement known as Bruocsella (Village and Dutch. The city remained the capital
in the Marshes) and a castle built in AD as the Spanish Netherlands gave way to
977. From these beginnings, it became the Neo-Classical era of the Austrian
a massively fortified power base for the Netherlands. During the 19th century,
ruling dukes of Brabant and Burgundy it underwent rapid expansion as a result
and evolved into a sophisticated city. of which the elegant Quartier Léopold
From the 12th century onwards, developed in the Upper Town. Today,
commerce was the engine of growth. this zone of orderly avenues and green
The trading centre around the Grand spaces is home to institutions of the EU.
Place was in the Lower Town. In contrast, Punctuated with modern buildings, it
the palaces of the dukes and nobles busies itself with the gov ernmental
stood aloof on the crest of a hill in bureaucracy so readily attached to
the Upper Town – a division between Brussels’s name.
the rulers and the ruled that is still With an urban area of 160 sq km (60 sq
detectable in the architecture today. miles) and a population of one million,
Because French was the language of Brussels juggles its great historical legacy
the elite classes, it became that of the and its role in the modern world by offer-
city, which is a French-speaking bubble ing the best of both heritage and urban
surrounded by the Dutch-speaking prov- prosperity. And true to a city that has the
ince of Vlaams-Brabant. Officially, if not in Manneken-Pis as its mascot, a ripple of
practice, Brussels is a bilingual city and good cheer is never far from the surface.

The Palais Royal, seat of the royal family in Brussels and centrepiece of the Upper Town
Café life in the Lower Town, beneath a comic-strip mural and the spire of the Hôtel de Ville

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