Sunday, March 19, 2017

Culture

Architecture

The architecture in Brussels is diverse, and spans from the clashing combination of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles on the Grand Place to the postmodern buildings of the EU institutions.
The Grand Place is the main attraction in the city centre and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998.[85] The square is dominated by the Flamboyant Town Hall, the Neo-Gothic Breadhouse (French: Maison du Roi, Dutch: Broodhuis) and the Baroque guildhalls of the Guilds of Brussels. The Manneken Pis, a fountain containing a small bronze sculpture of a urinating youth, is a tourist attraction and symbol of the city.[86] Other landmarks in the centre include the St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral, the Royal Palace and the Palace of Justice, reputed to be the largest building constructed in the 19th century.[87] The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert are one of the oldest covered shopping arcades in Europe.
Grand Place of Brussels, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
The neo-classical style of the 18th century is represented in the Royal Quarter/Coudenberg area, around the Brussels Park and Royal Square. Other examples include the Martyrs' Square and Barricades Square.
Also particularly striking are the buildings in the Art Nouveau style, most famously by the Belgian architects Victor Horta, Paul Hankar and Henry Van de Velde. Some of Brussels' districts were developed during the heyday of Art Nouveau, and many buildings are in this style. Good examples can be found in Schaerbeek, Etterbeek, Ixelles, and Saint-Gilles. The Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta – Hotel Tassel (1893), Hotel Solvay (1894), Hotel van Eetvelde (1895) and the Horta Museum – have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.[88] Another example of Brussels Art Nouveau is the Stoclet Palace (1911), by the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann which was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in June 2009.[89]
Art Deco structures include the Centre for Fine Arts (1928), the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg, the Saint-Augustine Church in Forest (1935), the former House of the Radio building on Flagey Square (1935-1938), the Villa Empain in Ixelles (1934) and the exhibition halls of Brussels Expo, built for the 1935 World Fair.
The Flagey Building
Since the second half of the 20th century, modern office towers have been built in Brussels (Madou Tower, Rogier Tower, Proximus Towers, Finance Tower, the World Trade Center, among others). Thirty towers, the majority of which are concentrated in the city's main business district: the Northern Quarter (also called Little Manhattan), near the Brussels-North railway station. The South Tower, standing adjacent to the Brussels-South railway station, is the tallest building in Belgium. The modern buildings of the Espace Leopold complete the picture. Located outside the centre in a more green environment are the Cinquantenaire park with its triumphal arch and nearby museums, the Royal Palace of Laeken with its large greenhouses and the Museums of the Far East in Laeken.
Atomium, Brussels
The Atomium is a symbolic 103-metre (338 ft) tall structure located on the Heysel Plateau that was originally built for the 1958 World's Fair (Expo '58). It consists of nine steel spheres connected by tubes, and forms a model of an iron crystal (specifically, a unit cell), magnified 165 billion times. The architect A. Waterkeyn devoted the building to science. It is now considered a landmark of Brussels.[90][91] Next to the Atomium is the Mini-Europe park with 1:25 scale maquettes of famous buildings from across Europe.

Arts

Cinquantenaire triumphal arch and museums
Brussels contains over 80 museums.[92] The Royal Museums of Fine Arts has an extensive collection of various painters, such as Flemish painters like Bruegel, Rogier van der Weyden, Robert Campin, Anthony van Dyck, and Jacob Jordaens. The Magritte Museum houses the world's largest collection of the works of the surrealist René Magritte. Museums dedicated to the national history of Belgium include the BELvue Museum, the Royal Museums of Art and History, and the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History. The Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) is part of the Royal Museums for Art and History and is internationally renowned for its collection of over 8,000 instruments.
La Monnaie/De Munt opera house
The city has had a renowned artist scene for many years. The famous Belgian surrealist René Magritte, for instance, studied and lived in Brussels, as did the avant-garde dramatist Michel de Ghelderode. The city was also home of the Impressionist painter Anna Boch from the Artist Group Les XX and includes others famous Belgian painters such as Léon Spilliaert and Guy Huygens. The city is also a capital of the comic strip;[2] some treasured Belgian characters are Tintin, Lucky Luke, The Smurfs, Spirou, Gaston, Marsupilami, Blake and Mortimer, Boule et Bill and Cubitus. Throughout the city, walls are painted with large motifs of comic book characters; these murals taken together are known as the Brussels' Comic Book Route. Also, the interiors of some Metro stations are designed by artists. The Belgian Comic Strip Center combines two artistic leitmotifs of Brussels, being a museum devoted to Belgian comic strips, housed in the former Waucquez department store, designed by Victor Horta in the Art Nouveau style.
Brussels is well known for its performing arts scene, with the Kunstenfestivaldesarts, the Kaaitheater and La Monnaie among the most notable institutions. The King Baudouin Stadium is a concert and competition facility with a 50,000 seat capacity, the largest in Belgium. The site was formerly occupied by the Heysel Stadium. Furthermore, the Bozar (Center for Fine Arts), a multi-purpose centre for theatre, cinema, music, literature and art exhibitions is home to the National Orchestra of Belgium and to the annual Queen Elisabeth Competition for classical singers and instrumentalists, one of the most challenging and prestigious competitions of the kind. The Studio 4 in Flagey cultural centre hosts the Brussels Philharmonic. Other concert venues include Forest National/Vorst Nationaal, Ancienne Belgique, the Cirque Royal, the Botanique and Palais 12. Also worth mentioning is the Théâtre Royal de Toone, a folkloric puppet theatre located near the Grand Place.

Science

The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences houses the world's largest hall completely dedicated to dinosaurs, with its collection of 30 fossilized Iguanodon skeletons. The Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium is one of the largest in Europe.[93]

Cultural and folkloric events

Meyboom giants in Brussels
  • The Iris Festival, festival of the Brussels-Capital Region, is held every year in spring.
  • The Flower Carpet at the Grand Place, held every two years in August.
  • The planting of the Meyboom on 9 August, the oldest folk tradition of Brussels, celebrating the May tree – in fact, a bad translation of the Dutch tree of joy – is recognised as an expression of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.[94]
  • The Ommegang, a folkloric costumed procession commemorating the Joyous Entry of Emperor Charles V when he was enthroned in Brussels in 1549.
  • The Zinneke Parade, a parade throughout the city, has been held every two years since 2000.
  • The Saint-Verhaegen, a folkloric student procession celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the Université libre de Bruxelles.
  • The Brussels Summer Festival (BSF), a music festival held in August.
  • The Couleur Café Festival, a festival of world and urban music.
  • The KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, a festival of international contemporary art.
  • The International Fantastic Film Festival of Brussels (BIFFF), is held during the Easter holidays.

Cuisine

Brussels is known for its local waffle
Brussels is known for its local waffle, its chocolate, its French fries and its numerous types of beers. The Brussels sprout, which has long been popular in Brussels, and may have originated there, is also named after the city.[95]
The gastronomic offer includes approximately 1,800 restaurants, and a number of high quality bars. Belgian cuisine is known among connoisseurs as one of the best in Europe. In addition to the traditional restaurants, there are a large number of cafés, bistros, and the usual range of international fast food chains. The cafés are similar to bars, and offer beer and light dishes; coffee houses are called the Salons de Thé. Also widespread are brasseries, which usually offer a large number of beers and typical national dishes.
Belgian cuisine is characterised by the combination of French cuisine with the more hearty Flemish fare. Notable specialities include Brussels waffles (gaufres) and mussels (usually as "moules frites", served with fries). The city is a stronghold of chocolate and pralines manufacturers with renowned companies like Neuhaus, Leonidas and Godiva. Pralines were first introduced in 1912 by Jean Neuhaus II, a Belgian chocolatier of Swiss origin, in the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in central Brussels.[96] Numerous friteries are spread throughout the city, and in tourist areas, fresh, hot, waffles are also sold on the street.
In addition to the regular selection of Belgian beer, the famous lambic style of beer is predominately brewed in and around Brussels, and the yeasts have their origin in the Senne valley. Kriek, a cherry lambic, enjoys outstanding popularity, as it does in the rest of Belgium. Kriek is available in almost every bar or restaurant.
Brussels is known as the birthplace of the Belgian Endive (Dutch : witloof or witlof ("white leaf"), French : chicon). The technique for growing blanched endives was accidentally discovered in the 1850s at the Botanical Garden of Brussels in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium.[97]
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