Blog-SahatSimarmata: Brussels, Ibukota Eropa

Central, Brussels

Nama "Brusel" sebenarnya berarti "tempat berawa-rawa" yang diambil dari bahasa Belanda "Broek Zele". Brussels merupakan ibukota negara Belgia dan sekaligus ibukota Uni Eropa. Kota ini mempunyai beberapa bentuk penulisan yaitu Bruxelles dalam bahasa Perancis, dan dalam bahasa Belanda dieja Brussel. Sedangkan dalam bahasa Inggris, nama ini dieja sebagai Brussels.....

Kota ini juga merupakan ibukota negara bagian atau region yang bernama sama, yaitu Brussels. Disini orang rata-rata bisa berbahasa Belanda dan Perancis sebagai bahasa resmi. Itulah sebabnya semua tempat dan jalan disini ada dalam 2 bahasa yang pengucapannya terdengar berbeda. Contohnya adalah alun-alun utama (main square) disebut Grand Place atau de Grote Markt.

Brussels ini disebut sebagai ibukota Eropa memang karena dia ibukota Uni Eropa. Hal ini mungkin karena banyak lembaga-lembaga Eropa berkantor pusat di sini.

Sejak Brussels menjadi ibukota negara baru pada abad ke-19, kota yang lama telah hancur untuk membuat citra baru untuk departemen, istana, sekolah, barak tentara dan blok perkantoran yang semua dibangun antara tahun 1880 dan 1980. Sayangnya, itulah sebabnya begitu kecil situs bersejarah di kota ini yang masih ada. Yah, sebuah alun-alun dan jalan-jalan yang berdekatan. Sebagian besar wisatawan hanya mengunjungi Brussels bukan sebagai tempat prioritas yang dikunjungi di Belgia. Umumnya turis berkonsentrasi pada 4 kota klasik yaitu Bruges, Ghent, Antwerpen, dan Leuven Belgia.

Di kota ini beberapa tempat yang aku kunjungi adalah Grand Place-Grote Markt, Manneken Pis, Atomium, tempat makan di Rue des Bouchers-Beenhouwersstraat, dan Parc du Cinquantenaire-Jubelpark dekat Royal Museum serta The Bourse gedung bursa efeknya Belgia. Khusus untuk Atomium aku teringat Bapakku yang pernah ke sini juga tahun 1984 saat masih pendidikan Diplom Kriminolog dua tahun di Jerman Barat.
.

Grand-Place - Grote Markt - Market Square, Brussels.

"One of the most beautiful town squares in Europe, if not in the world", is a phrase often heard when visitors in Brussels try to describe the beauty of the central market square.
.

The King's House - City Museum (Musée de la Ville de Bruxelles), Brussels. Still at the Market Place, opposite the Town Hall, stands another of the remarkable historical Buildings of Brussels. The beautiful neo-gothic building with its many decorative statues is the "Maison du Roi" in French or "Broodhuis" in Dutch. It now harbours the historical City Museum (Musée de la Ville de Bruxelles). That's wonderful place. I hope you there. Look my photo. Coool! Hehehe.

Manaken Pis, Brussels. This statue of a little boy in a somewhat compromising position has since several centuries been a major tourist attraction in the city. When most people see our 'manneken', the first reaction is always one of amazement: "Look, how small he is ! Why does everybody (and I) want to see him ?" The people of Brussels, however, accept him the way he is. After all, it doesn't always have to be big to be beautiful. :-)

The Atomium in Heysel Park, Brussels. My father was here too, 24 years before. The Atomium is a monument built for Expo '58, the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Designed by André Waterkeyn, it is 102-metres (335 ft) tall, with nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes which connect the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and all eight vertices to the centre enclose escalators connecting the spheres which contain exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere provides a panoramic view of Brussels.

The Guild's Houses, Brussels.

.
The Guild's Houses, Brussels. The fame and beauty of the Market Place do not lie only in the Town Hall and the King's House, but perhaps first of all in the presence of a remarkably beautiful set of elaborately decorated guild houses. The name "guild houses" is most commonly used for the entire set of houses, although in reality they did not all belong to the medieval guilds. Some of the houses were always privately owned. During the Middle Ages and later every city in the Low Countries had guilds or corporations which always had a stake in the city administration. Because they were very wealthy and politically powerful , their importance had to show in their houses in which they regularly met to discuss new rules or regulations within their specific trade or commerce.
.

Galeries Royales St. Hubert, Brussels.

Galeries Royales St. Hubert, Brussels. The St. Hubert gallery is a fine example of a typical kind of building of the 19th century: the covered shopping gallery. Between 1820 and 1880 seven of these galleries were built in Brussels. Three of these have survived: the St. Hubert gallery, the Bortier gallery and the Northern Passage. These galleries had a double function: the ground-level was almost always occupied by shops, whereas the upper section (first and second floors) were reserved for apartments and habitation.
.

Everard 't Serclaes, Brussels.

.
Everard 't Serclaes, Brussels. Everard 't Serclaes was made famous by his recovery of the city from the Flemish. Local superstition said that by rubbing (touching) the right hand of the statue can bring luck.

Slide Foto Brussels