Belgium emerges from a night at the opera!
by GillianMcLaughlin
This is the Th??tre Royal de La Monnaie - De Munt
The building is nice enough, I'm sure you agree. The square it sits in is a tad ugly: another unfortunate victim of Brusselisation. It?s place in Belgian history is incomparable.
Belgium is a country was established as a constitutional monarchy in 1831. This rather late decision to unite quite a diverse society came about in a fit of collective consciousness of 19th century Opera buffs. Honest! It's true!
There they were, sitting happily watching the all but forgotten La muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici) by the equally obscure Abert (father of French Grand opera as it happens) when the rousing revolutionary songs of fisherman Masiniello and his buddies, fed up by their tyranical lords, drove the intelligentia of the city to pour out of the opera house and do a bit of rabble-rousing. Don't you just think that's just wonderful? A whole nation achieves a common identity despite major differences in language and culture.. and it all started at an evening at the opera!
The building is superbly historical and beautiful inside. Guided tours are possible.
A bit of History
by DanielF
Brussels is not very old by European standards. At least, it does not have the pedigree that other Roman or Greek founded cities can boast. Although its origins are unclear, it is considered that the city was founded in 979 A.D. on different islands in the small Senne River. Nevertheless, there are no written references of Brussels until well into the 11th century. Today, there is nothing left of the former swamps and all the arms and canals of the river Senne are either dried up or voulted. This lack of glamorous waterways makes that Brussels holds no comparison with more glamorous neighbouring cities like Paris or Amsterdam.
Brussels gained enormous prosperity during the Middle Ages thanks to the textile industry, becoming eventually the most important urban centre in Brabant (over Antwerp, Mechlin and Leuven). It was chosen as the capital of the Low Countries by Charles V and, since then, has had a tormented history, being handed from one European power to another.
Brussels was severely bombed by the troops of Louis XIV of France in 1695, which resulted in the old city practically being levelled and rebuilt in the style that we still see today in the Grand Place and its surroundings.
Since 1831, Brussels is the capital of the independent Belgium, with a new wave of grand architectural construction that aimed at putting it in the same league as the other European capitals. After the World War, it has also become the seat of many international organisations, the EU in particular, which make of it one of the centres of international policy in the world.
Guild Houses Of Grand Place
by Mikebb
The outstanding memory of our 5 day visit to Brussels was the magnificent historic buildings of the Grand Place. Many of the Guild Houses were built during the 11th century, however in 1695 all but the Town Hall were destroyed by cannon fire and subsequently rebuilt.
As our hotel was close by we visited the Grand Place daily. It is good to see that the buildings are available to the public, the Hotel De Ville (Town Hall) is used as the Toursist Information centre and musuem with daily tours.
For more detail visit: http://www.ilotsacre.be/site/en/default_en.htm
A day hopping in Brussels
by kylian74
This area is where the christmas market in Brussels. I believe this one is in the ' Vismarkt ' a short walk from the Grand Place and Bourse. Thanks to Norali a Vt friend who showed me the xmas market...I got wrong info before and now I found it right! I like the carousel although it's for kids...well, it wasn't an ordinary one, isn't it antique Norali?
Visiting Brussels you should...
by irisbe
Visiting Brussels you should also be looking up all those great Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) houses.
The most famous one is the Horta House.
The wall decorations in Brussels are different from those in Antwerp.
While in Antwerp a lot of mosaic is used, here in Brussels they use wall painting.
Starting from a carved drawing, they put first a top of black colour over it.
And then they put over that one a coloured kind of chalk? and before it totally dries up, they remove the parts that doesn't need to be painted.
This technique they redo over and over again with different colours until the painting is ready. Going direction Sint-Gillis where you can find a nice amount of these kind of houses.
Or visiting some of the pubs that are build in Art Nouveau style
(Falstaf, Greenwich)
See more about Art Nouveau in my travelogues!
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The La Brouette facade
Working hours
Istambul ? No ! just Brussels !
The Tiny Bar!
