Brussels (Belgium)

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 977 AD, the German emperor Otto II gave the duchy of Lower Lotharingia, the empire's western frontier to Charles, the banished son of King Louis IV of France. Mention was already made of Brussels at the time: Bishop Saint-Gery of Cambrai-Arras settled a chapel on a small island (695). A century later Saint-Vindicianus, also a monk of Cambrai-Arras lived on that island. However, the founding of Brussels is usually known to happen when a small castle was built by Charles around 979 on an island (called Saint-Gery island) encompassed by the Zenne or Senne river.

The ten closest neighbours in the database:

Aachen (Germany) (123 km), Reims (France) (179 km), Amiens (France) (180 km), Cologne (Germany) (183 km), Bonn (Germany) (194 km), Verdun (France) (201 km), Maginot Fort Hackenberg (220 km), Paris (France) (263 km), Rüdesheim am Main (Germany) (270 km), Mainz (Germany) (293 km)

Take a birds-eye view of the current location:

Google Maps, Map 24, MSN Virtual Earth, Yahoo!Maps

Galeries Royales St. Hubert
Galeries Royales St. Hubert
Galeries Royales St. Hubert
The royal palace in Brussels
Grand-Place (Dutch: Grote Markt) of Brussels with the gothic magnificence of the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) and the Baroque exuberance of the late seventeenth-century guildhouses surrounding the square.
The Grand Place (French: Grand'Place or Grand Place, Dutch: Grote Markt) is the central market square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guild houses, the city's spectacular Town Hall and the Breadhouse (Dutch: Broodhuis, French: Maison du Roi).
Grand Place
Maison du Roi or Broodhuis
Grand Place
The Town Hall (French: Hôtel de Ville, Dutch: Stadhuis) of Brusselsvon Brüssel was built between 1401 and 1421 by Jacob van Tienen.
Manneken Pis, a 60 centimeter bronze sculpture depicting a little boy, urinates since 1619 into the fountain's basin.
Saint Michael and Gudula's Cathedral in Brussels
Cathédrale St. Michel et Gudule
Cathédrale St. Michel et Gudule
Cathédrale St. Michel et Gudule
    
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