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Brussels ( of Belgium , the French Community Of Belgium , the Flemish Community and the ''de facto'' capital of the European Union . Brussels is, first of all, a city located in the center of Belgium and is its capital, but it sometimes also refers to the largest municipality of the ). The municipality has a population of about 140,000 while the Brussels-Capital Region has 1.006.749 inhabitants. (01-01-2005). The Metropolitan area has about 1,975,000 inhabitants. {Link without Title} The Brussels-Capital Region is a region of Belgium in its own right (''Région à part entière'', like even Dutch-speakers say), alongside or the Flemish Community for matters such as culture and education. Brussels is also the capital of both the , Flemish Government and its administration. Two of the three main institutions of the 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 meet 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 , 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 "language border" (''taalgrens'') divides Belgium into a northern, ). The highest building in Brussels is the South Tower (150 m); the most famous probably the Atomium , which is a remnant from the Expo '58 . 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". "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. The names of all other municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region are also of Dutch origin, except for Evere , which is of Celtic origin. History In 977 AD, the , 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 , was Philip's father). In 1695 Brussels was attacked by general Villeroy of King or Grand Place , except for the famous City Hall , which miraculously survived. In 1830, the was built, and the Tervuren Avenue was laid out. From May 10 , 1940 , Brussels was bombed by the German army. Most of the damage was done however in 1944-1945. The Heysel Stadium Disaster took place in Brussels on May 29 , 1985 . The Brussels Capital Region was founded on June 18 , 1989 . In 1996 Brussels gained an interesting importance for Somalian community in Belgium. The spiritual leader of Muslim Somalians in Europe, namely Al Siddik Al Har'am , died in a car accident in Brussels. The plot became a spiritual site for mourners. Now every year Somalians gather there on 7th of August and commemorate the accident. Linguistic situation The original languages of the Brussels area are Brabantic dialects of Dutch. A curiosity is "Marollien", a Brussels dialect heavily influenced by Walloon which was spoken in a central section of the city. Both Dutch and French have been in use for most of the city's history as official languages and were used by the upper classes. Research in the city's archives indicates that Dutch was by far the most widely used of the two until the French occupation in 1793 . {Link without Title} During the 19th and the 20th century, as Literacy progressed, Dialect s started to lose ground to standardized languages. In Brussels, most of the population adopted French rather than Dutch as its language of culture, since at the time, it was more prestigious and consequently considered more usefull. Also when Belgium became independent the new governement encouraged the use of French. Today, the Brussels dialects are on the verge of extinction, although some try to revive them (see links). Nowadays, the Brussels Capital Region is officially bilingual French-Dutch. There are no official statistics on the first language of its population. However, according to a 2001 study by Rudi Janssens, a sociolinguist at the VUB , 8.5% of the Brussels population are native Dutch-speakers and 10.2% have both Dutch and French as a mother tongue. The same research shows that almost half of the population are native French-speakers. Allophones, who speak neither Dutch nor French at home, are a rapidly growing segment of the population. In reality, Brussels has become a multilingual city, rather than a bilingual one. It should be noted that due to the growth of the city of Brussels, the periphery, which is 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, sometimes numbering over 70%. Some argue that these new inhabitants should adapt to their Flemish environment, others suggest the expansion of the Brussels Capital Region and its bilingual statute. According to the stance taken in the debate, the existing linguistic rights (''faciliteiten'') in the Brussels periphery are either interpreted as a help to facilitate the adaptation process, or as perpetual linguistic rights for francophones. Universities 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). 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 nearby Flemish municipality of Zaventem , and by Brussels South Airport , located near Charleroi (Wallonia), 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 (but underground lines known as ''premetro'' have been serviced by tramways since 1968 ). A comprehensive bus and Tram Network also covers the city. Brussels also has its own port on the Willebroek canal located in the city's northwest. There are four companies managing public transport inside Brussels:
An interticketing system means that a STIB/MIVB ticket holder can use the train or long-distance buses inside the city. The commuter services operated by De Lijn, TEC and SNCB/NMBS will in the next few years be augmented by an RER rail network around Brussels. Railway stations The major stations in Brussels are on the North-South Junction :
Two more stations serve the EU district in Brussels. Trains towards Namur and Luxembourg call at: The last two stations located in the municipality of Brussels (they also are on the North-South Junction and operate only in rush hours) are:
Other railway stations in other Brussels municipalities include :
Road 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). The ancient pattern of streets radiating from the ''Grote Markt/Grand'Place'' in large part remains, but has been overlaid by boulevards built over the River Zenne /Senne, the city walls and the railway junction between the North and South Stations. 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 of narrow shopping streets. As for motorways, the town is skirted by the European Route E19 (N-S) and the E40 (E-W), while the E411 leads away to the SE. Brussels has an Orbital Motorway , numbered ''R0'' (R-zero) and commonly referred to as the "ring" (French: ''ring'' Dutch: ''grote ring''). It is pear-shaped as the southern side was never built as originally conceived, owing to residents' objections. 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''. These were built upon the site of the second set of city walls following their demolition. Metro line 2 runs under much of these. 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 ). Some ''premetro'' stations (see Brussels Metro ) were built on that route. A little further out, a stretch numbered R22 leads from Zaventem to Sint-Job . 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. Safety Despite claims by the government that Brussels is a relatively safe city, statistics show otherwise. According to Urban Audit, Brussels has the fourth highest crime rate of all , was the fatal stabbing of 17-year old Joe Van Holsbeeck during a rush hour robbery by Roma youths in one of the main railway stations, in an attempt to steal his MP3 player. {Link without Title} There are those however who doubt the press' sensationalist approach about crime, as well as many statistics, that seem politically motivated to the benefit of the far right. Reading about Brussels in certain newspapers gives a completely different picture than if you enjoy an actual walk in the city. We must also remember that crime statistics sometimes reflect the effectiveness of the police as well as the reporting culture, rather than actual number of crimes. See also Places of interest
Notable parks
Notable people from Brussels See also: Notable People From Brussels
Sports clubs
Concert halls
Museums
Other
Notes External links
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