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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 ( /bʀy.ˌsel/ Dutch /ˈbry.s(ɘ)l/ or /ˈbrɘ.s(ɘ)l/). 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
Brussels as capital of Belgium Although some misbelieve that the capital of Belgium is Brussels at large, according to the Belgian Constitution (Art. 194) the capital of Belgium is the City of Brussels municipality. Arguments that the use of lower case in "ville" and "stad" in Article 194 for "ville de Bruxelles" (French), "stad Brussel" (Dutch) makes a subtle difference and means that Brussels at large is the capital cannot be defended on a legal basis. However, although the City of Brussels is the official capital, the by the federation and region delegated funds for the representative role of the capital are divided among the 19 municipalities and in practice, national Belgian institutions are indeed not only located in the City of Brussels, although many are, but also in most of the other 18 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital region. Meaning that de facto the entire Region serves as capital, but de jure only the City of Brussels is entitled to the title of capital city of Belgium. Places of interest
Folklore Brussels’ identity owes much to its rich folklore and traditions, among the liveliest in the country: Linguistic situation Brussels Capital Region is officially bilingual French-Dutch, although French, mother tongue of about 85 percent of the population, is the lingua franca and is most widely used. For most centuries of its history, Dutch, (Brabantian variant) , or more precisely the linguistic predecessor of it, was the common vernacular. French was only used by upper classes. Research in the city's archives indicates that Dutch was by far the most widely used of the two as a vernacular and in its local administration, until the French occupation in 1793, even though French had been the language of the governors since the Burgundian era. * During the 19th and the 20th century, Belgium was completely dominated by the French-speaking bourgeoisie. Although the majority (about 60%) of the Belgian population spoke Dutch, it was French that became the official language. Civil administration, justice, education and even socio-economic business were for a long time conducted in French, even in the Dutch-speaking areas of the country. Brussels, naturally, attracted far more French-speaking immigrants than any other part of the country since it was there that the apparatus of the central government of the French-only speaking state was installed. In the capital Brussels, it was even more obvious that French rather than Dutch was the language of chances and prestige and more useful, as higher education and the better jobs all required French. Moreover, the Belgian state (founded in 1830) recognised Dutch, the language of the majority of its population, as an official language only in 1878. Nowadays, the Brussels Capital Region is officially bilingual French-Dutch, although French is the lingua franca and is most widely used. According to a 2001 study by Rudi Janssens, a sociolinguist at the VUB, 80% of the population are more or less native French-speakers, 8.5% are native Dutch-speakers and 10.2% have both Dutch and French as a mother tongue (often mixed-language parents). Allophones, who speak neither Dutch nor French at home, are a small but growing segment of the population. One third of Brussels' inhabitants has a foreign origin and does not have Belgian nationality. Since Brussels is completely surrounded by Flemish territory, the number of Dutch speakers is quite large during working hours and in cultural consumption time. In a survey conducted by the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Louvain-La-Neuve and published in June 2006, 51% of respondents from Brussels claimed to be bilingual. It should be noted that due to the growth of the city of Brussels, the periphery, which is institutionally 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, in a few cases numbering over 70%. The often minimal knowledge of Dutch of some French speakers and the perceived unwillingness of some to learn Dutch, although they live in Flanders, along with the increasingly nationalistic agenda of most flemish politicians and the growing popularity of the far-right Vlaams Belang, have led to friction between the two communities. One way of quickly identifying whether you are in Brussels or in Flanders is by looking at the colors on the pilars of the traffic lights: they are red and white in Brussels, and yellow and black in Flanders. A curiosity is the "Marollien" dialect, heavily influenced by Walloon which used to be spoken mostly in a central section of the city. Today, the Brussels dialects are on the verge of extinction, although some try to revive them (see links). 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 other 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 northwest of the city. There are four companies managing public transport inside 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 centre 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 Breda), N2 (E to Maastricht), N3 (E to Aachen), N4 (SE to Luxembourg) N5 (S to Reims), N6 (SW to Maubeuge), N8 (W to Koksijde) and N9 (NW to Ostend) . Usually named steenwegen/chaussées, these highways normally run straight as a die, but on occasion lose themselves in a labyrinth 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 famous fifth Solvay Conference in 1927, where physicists like Albert Einstein, Planck, Curie, Lorentz, Dirac, De Broglie, Borh, Schrödinger, Pauli and Heisenberg discussed about the path of the modern physics, specifically the new Quantum Theory. Einstein, disenchanted with Heisenberg's "Uncertainty Principle", remarked "God does not play dice". Bohr replied, "Einstein, stop telling God what to do." (See Bohr-Einstein debates). Seventeen of the twenty-nine attendees were or became Nobel Prize laureates. 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 World Expo '58 in 1958. The Atomium, a 103 metre representation of an iron crystal was built for the Expo '58, and is still there, now renovated. Throughout 2003, Brussels celebrated native son Jacques Brel on the 25th anniversary of his death. See also Notable parks
Notable people from Brussels See also: Notable people from Brussels Sports clubs Concert halls Museums Other Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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