Brussels tourist information

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 donation by Emperor OTTO II the Great is recorded. Duke Charles installs the reliques schrine of Saint Gudula in the Saint Gery chapel.

In 1041 the county of Brussels was taken over by Lambert I of Leuven of the Counts of Leuven (Leuven), who ruled the surrounding county, later duchy of Brabant. Under Lambert II of Leuven, a new castrum and the first city walls were built. The small town became in the 12th century an important stop on the commercial road from Brugge and Ghent to Cologne. The village benefitted from this favourable position and was growing with a population of around thirty thousand and the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time also (1183/1184).

From 1357 to 1379, a new city enclosure was constructed as the former one was already proving to be too small: it is now known as the inner ring or pentagon.

In the 15th century, by means of the wedding of heiress Margaret III of Flanders with Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, a new Duke of Brabant emerged from the House of Valois (namely Antoine, their son), with another line of descent from the Habsburgs (Maximilian of Austria, later Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, married Mary of Burgundy, who was born in Brussels).

Brabant had lost its independency, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and florished.

Charles V, heir of the Low Countries since 1506, though (as he was only 6 years old) governed by his aunt Margaret of Austria until 1515, was declared King of the unified Spain, in 1516, in the Cathedral of Saint Gudule in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1519, Charles became also the new archduke of the Austrian Empire and thus the Holy Roman Emperor of the Empire "in which the sun does not set". It was in the Palace complex at the Brussels' Coudenberg, that Charles V in 1555 abdicated. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded a lot since it was first the seat of the dukes of Brabant, but was sadly destroyed in 1731 in a huge fire (there only remains now an important archeological site).

In 1695 Brussels was attacked by general Villeroy of King Louis XIV of France. A bombardment destroyed the city's heart: more than 4000 houses were set on fire, including the medieval buildings at the Grote Markt or Grand Place.

In 1830, the Belgian revolution took place in Brussels after a performance of Auber's opera La Muette de Portici at De Munt or La Monnaie theatre. On July 21, 1831, Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians, ascended the throne, undertaking the destruction of the city walls and the construction of many buildings. Under Léopold II, the city underwent many more changes: the Zenne was culverted (as it brought diseases), the North-South Junction was built, and the Tervuren Avenue was laid out.

From May 10, 1940, Brussels was bombed by the German army. Most of the damage was done however in 1944-1945. The Heysel Stadium disaster took place in Brussels on May 29, 1985. The Brussels Capital Region was founded on June 18, 1989.