Page 90 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Brussels Bruges Ghent & Antwerp

88  BRUSSELS AREA B Y AREA

Anderlecht is now best known
as an industrial area, and for
its meat market and successful
football club, named for
the area. Fans of street-art
should look out for the bright
cartoon-like murals on Rue
Porcelaine, inspired by
Modernist Joan Mirò.
Although only a few pockets
of the suburb are now residen-
tial, during the 15th century
this was a popular place to live
and some houses remain from
The Forêt de Soignes, once a royal hunting ground and now a park that era. Maison d’Erasme,
built in 1468, is now named
5 Forêt de Soignes taking a trip here to visit the after the great scholar and
Musée David et Alice van religious reformer, Erasmus
@ 17, 41, 72. v 44, 94. q Hermann
Debroux. 8 guided walks 10am Thu Buuren. The 1920s (1466–1536), who
& Sun (not Eng); recommended residence of this lived here for five
walking routes also available with Dutch couple is now months in 1521.
English translation on website. a small museum, The house was
Tel (02) 215 1740. ∑ sonianforest.be displaying their restored in the
eclectic acquisitions. 1930s and is now
The large forested area southeast Amid the Dutch a museum dedicated
of Brussels city centre, popular Delftware and French to the most well-
with locals enjoying a stroll, has Lalique lamps are regarded thinker
a long history: thought to have great finds, such as Mirò-style drawings, of his generation. It
had prehistoric beginnings, it original sketches by Anderlecht displays a collection
was here that the Gallic citizens Van Gogh. Visitors of 16th-century
suffered their defeat by the will also enjoy the modern furniture and portraits of the
Romans (see p33). However, the landscaped gardens at the rear. great humanist by Holbein and
forest really gained renown in van der Weyden.
the 12th century when wild E Musée David et Alice van Nearby is the huge edifice of
boar roamed the landscape and Buuren Eglise Sts-Pierre-et-Guidon.
local dukes enjoyed hunting Ave Léo Errera 41, 1180 BRU. Tel (02) This 14th-century Gothic
trips in the woodland. 343 4851. Open 2–5:30pm Wed– church, completed with the
The density of the landscape Mon. Closed Tue, 1 Jan, 25 Dec. & addition of a tower in 1517,
has provided tranquillity over is notable for its sheer size
the ages. In the 14th and 15th and exterior gables, typical
centuries it became a favoured 7 Anderlecht of Brabant archi tecture. The
location for monasteries and @ 46, 49, 75. v 81. q Bizet, life of St Guidon, patron saint
abbeys. Few have survived, but Clemenceau, St-Guidon. of peasants, is de picted on
Abbaye de Rouge-Cloître is a interior wall murals.
rare example from this era. Considered to be Brussels’ Illustrating a more recent
In a former 18th-century first genuine suburb (archaeo- history, the Musée Gueuze is a
priory is the Groenendaal logical digs have uncovered family brewery that has opened
Arboretum, in which more than remnants of Roman housing), its doors to the public to
400 forest plants are housed,
many extinct elsewhere.
r Groenendaal Arboretum
Duboislaan 6, 1560 BRU. Tel (02) 657
2203. Open 1–5pm Wed–Sun.
∑ bosmuseum.be

6 Uccle
@ 38, 60. v 3, 7.
Uccle is a smart residential
district, dotted with tree-lined
avenues. Not immediately a
tourist destination, it is worth Maison d’Erasme in Anderlecht, with its courtyard and fountain

088-089_EW_Brussels.indd 88 10/01/17 10:54 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.7)
Date 1st October 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm