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 twenty closest neighbours in the database:
Bruges (Belgium) (89 km),
Ostend (Belgium) (110 km),
Aachen (Germany) (123 km),
Castle De Haar (148 km),
Amsterdam (Netherlands) (174 km),
Royal Palace in Amsterdam (174 km),
Düsseldorf (Germany) (175 km),
Reims (France) (179 km),
Amiens (France) (180 km),
Cologne (Germany) (183 km),
Zaanse Schans (184 km),
Star Wars Identities Exhibition in Cologne (186 km),
Bonn (Germany) (194 km),
Verdun (France) (201 km),
Zeche Zollverein (201 km),
Maginot Fort Hackenberg (220 km),
Canterbury (United Kingdom) (233 km),
Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (241 km),
Paris (France) (263 km),
Leeds Castle (264 km)
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