BrusselsBrussels....a little history.
In 979 Duke Charles moved the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gery Chapel. Thus became the city. The city is attributed to Lambert I, Count of Leuven. In the 12th century the small town of Brussels became an important stop of the trade route from Bruges and Ghent to Cologne. As you can imagine, this little city benefited greatly from this and grew to a population of about 30,000 people. It was getting so big that they drained the swamps around the outside of the city to make it possible for further growth. 1357 they started to build a new city wall, the old now much to small. Construction on the well ended on 1379. In 1695 General Villeroy, given orders, by Louise XIV king of France, was to attack the now very large city. Over 4,000 buildings were caught on fire. The bombardment caused a great deal of destruction.
On July 21, 1831, Leopold I ascended the throne, the first king of the Belgians. He made many changes come about, such as, the the destruction of the city walls and the construction of many new buildings. Under Leopold II many more changes happened also. For one, the Tervuren Avenue was laid out. Beginning in 1940 the city was bombed by the German Army, although most of the war damage was done in 1944-45. In 1985 what's known as the Heysel Stadium Disaster took place. The retaining wall at Heysel Stadium collapsed killing 39 people. It happened during the final European Cup tournament.
One of the only things I remember about this big Belium city is seeing a Tintin shop. I wish we could have gone in, I really like Tintin, but alas, it was closed.
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