BRUSSELS - BELGIUM |
| |
Brussels (French: Bruxelles, Dutch: Brussel,
German: Brüssel) is a major city in Belgium and its capital.
Brussels is first of all a city located in the center of Belgium and its
capital, but it sometimes also refers to the main municipality of the
Brussels-Capital Region. This municipality inside Brussels is correctly
named The City of Brussels (Bruxelles-Ville or Ville de Bruxelles in French,
de Stad Brussel in Dutch), which is one of 19 municipalities that make up
the Brussels-Capital Region.
The Brussels-Capital Region is a region of
Belgium in its own right, alongside the Flemish Region and Wallonia, and is
geographically an enclave of the Flemish Region. Regions are one component
of Belgium's complex institutions, the three communities being 'the' other
component: the Brussels people must deal with the either to the French (speaking)
community or the Flemish community for matters such as culture and education. |
|
Brussels is also the capital of the French Community of Belgium (Communauté
française Wallonie-Bruxelles in French) and of Flanders; all Flemish capital
institutions are established there: Flemish Parliament, Flemish governement
and its administration.
Two of the three main institutions of the European Union, the European
Commission and the Council of the European Union, have their headquarters in
the Berlaymont building in Brussels. The third main institution of the
European Union, the European Parliament, also has parliamentary chambers in
Brussels (its plenary sessions are held at its headquarters in Strasbourg).
This leads to another meaning, especially in British English, where the city
is used as a metonym for some aspects of the Union. "Brussels is considering
banning raunchy TV images"
Brussels is also the political seat of NATO, i.e. the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation, and the Western European Union (WEU).
The language frontier divides Belgium into a northern, Dutch-speaking,
region and a southern, French-speaking, region. The Brussels region is
officially bilingual, while the majority of its residents speaks French (see
the linguistic history of Brussels in this article's history section).
Tourist attractions
Atomium
La Bourse (Dutch: De Beurs)
Grote Markt / Grand-Place
Heysel
Jeanneke Pis
Koekelberg Basilica
The Jubilee Arch
Manneken Pis
La Monnaie (Dutch: De Munt)
Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral |
