Laeken

Laeken
Neighbourhood
Former Municipal Hall of Laeken
Former Municipal Hall of Laeken
Flag of Laeken
Flag
Coat of arms of Laeken
Coat of arms
Location within Belgium
Location within Belgium
Laeken is located in Belgium
Laeken
Laeken
Location within Belgium
Coordinates: 50°52′40″N 4°21′21″E / 50.87778°N 4.35583°E / 50.87778; 4.35583
CountryBelgium
RegionBrussels-Capital Region
ArrondissementBrussels-Capital
MunicipalityCity of Brussels
Area
 • Total
9.25 km2 (3.57 sq mi)
Population
 (2015)
 • Total
60,295
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
1000, 1020, 1030
Area codes02
WebsiteOfficial website

Laeken (French, pronounced [lakœn] ⓘ) or Laken (Dutch, pronounced [ˈlaːkə(n)] ⓘ) is a residential suburb in the north-western part of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. It belongs to the municipality of the City of Brussels and is mostly identified by the Belgian postal code: 1020. Prior to 1921, it was a separate municipality.

Toponymy

The name Laeken (Dutch: Laken) derives from the Germanic Lacha or Lache ("water", "lake"), because the Molenbeek brook at the time formed a network of ponds at this height. The oldest mention of the village is in a diploma from 1080, where the name Gilbert de Lacha appears. There is also the mention Lachus in 1117.

Main sights

Royal Palace

Royal Palace of Laeken

The Royal Palace of Laeken, official home of the Belgian royal family, is situated in Laeken. The palace was built in 1782–1784 by the French architect and urbanist Charles de Wailly. It was partly destroyed by fire in 1890, and was rebuilt and extended by the architect Alphonse Balat. The French architect Charles Girault gave it its present outline in 1902. It has been the royal residence since the accession to the throne of King Leopold I in 1831. The former King Albert II and Queen Paola live in the Belvédère, a château on the grounds of the park surrounding the palace, while King Philippe and Queen Mathilde live in the main palace.

Royal Greenhouses

Royal Greenhouses of Laeken

The Royal Domain of Laeken also contains the large Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, a set of monumental dome-shaped constructions, accessible to the public only a few days a year. They were designed by Alphonse Balat, with the cooperation of the young Victor Horta.

Church of Our Lady

A little south of the Royal Palace, one can find the neo-Gothic Church of Our Lady, initially built as a mausoleum for Queen Louise-Marie, wife of Leopold I, whose children included King Leopold II and Empress Carlota of Mexico. The architect was Joseph Poelaert, designer of the famed Brussels' Palace of Justice. The church contains the Royal Crypt, where the members of the Belgian royal family are buried. In February each year, a memorial mass for deceased members of the royal family is held at the church. In the nave of the church, the tomb of Cardinal Joseph Cardijn can also be found.

Laeken Cemetery

Laeken Cemetery with the Church of Our Lady in the background

Laeken Cemetery, located behind the church, is known as the Belgian Père Lachaise, after the famous cemetery in Paris, because it used to be the burial place of the rich and the famous. It harbours the graves of, among others, the symbolist painter Fernand Khnopff and the opera singer Maria Malibran, and also features an original cast of The Thinker (Le Penseur), by Auguste Rodin.

Chinese Pavilion and Japanese Tower

Chinese Pavilion of the Museums of the Far East

A little north of the Royal Palace stand the Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese Tower. They were commissioned by Leopold II and now form part of the Museums of the Far East. The rooms of the Chinese Pavilion are designed in chinoiserie Louis XIV and Louis XVI styles. They are decorated with Chinese motifs, chinaware and silverware. The Japanese Tower is a pagoda (known as a Tō), inspired by a construction Leopold II saw at the Paris Exposition of 1900. Leopold II commissioned his architect Alexandre Marcel to build him a similar one in Laeken.

Atomium

The Atomium

The Atomium is a symbolic 103 m-tall (338 ft) modernist structure, located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau, which was originally built for the 1958 World's Fair (Expo 58). It consists of nine steel spheres connected by tubes, and forms a model of an iron crystal (specifically, a unit cell), magnified 165 billion times. The architect André Waterkeyn devoted the building to science. It is now considered a landmark of Brussels.

Brussels Expo

Opposite the Atomium, the Centenary Palace is one of the lasting remaining buildings of the 1935 World's Fair and is now home to the Brussels Exhibition Centre (Brussels Expo), the city's most important event complex in Belgium and the largest exhibition space in the Benelux.

Other places of interest

Other places of interest in Laeken include the King Baudouin Stadium, a concert and competition facility with a 50,000 seat capacity, the largest in Belgium. The Bruparck entertainment park (with among others Mini-Europe miniature park and Kinepolis cinema), the Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, as well as the Monument to the Dynasty in Laeken Park, are also located there, as is the Palais 12/Paleis 12, a large and modern multiuse indoor arena. Moreover, the nearby Port of Brussels, next to which the Monument to Work by Constantin Meunier was erected, forms part of the industrial landscape of northern Brussels.

The impressive buildings of the former goods station of Tour & Taxis and the surrounding area border the neighbourhood, and will be turned into residences, as well as commercial enterprises.

Areas

Notable inhabitants

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Martine Wille and Jean-Marie Duvosquel (dir.), Autour du parvis Notre-Dame à Laeken (in French), Crédit Communal, 1994, p. 5
  2. ↑ Jespers 2005, p. 387.
  3. ↑ Maurits Gysseling, Toponymisch Woordenboek (in Dutch), 1960, p. 587
  4. ↑ "The opulent homes of Europe's royal families". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 22, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Royal Crypt in Laeken". The Belgian Monarchy. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  6. ↑ Mesmaeker, Delphine (2016). "The Japanese Tower at the Royal Domain in Laeken: A remarkable application of Japanese lacquer techniques in Belgium". Studies in Conservation. 61 (Supplement 3): 109–116. doi:10.1080/00393630.2016.1227053.
  7. ↑ "Atomium – the iron landmark of Brussels". beneluxguide.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  8. ↑ "The Atomium: How Do You Clean a Massive Molecule?". Spiegel Online. October 8, 2012. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Bruxelles Laeken - Palais des Expositions du Heysel - Place de Belgique - BAES Louis". www.irismonument.be. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  10. ↑ Coljon, Thierry (December 24, 2010). "Ma journée avec Stromae, de Laeken à Vilvorde" [My day with Stromae, from Laeken to Vilvorde]. Le Soir (in French). Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2020.

Bibliography