Belgium
Click here for photos of Belgium
Video
of Bruges (Brugge in Dutch)
Bruges offers picturesque
cobbled lanes and dreamy canals link exceptionally photogenic market squares
lined with soaring towers, historic churches and old whitewashed almshouses.
And there’s plenty of it. There’s a special charm in spring when
daffodils carpet the tranquil begijnhof or in winter when you can have the
magnificent, if icy, town almost to yourself.
Video
of Brussels
Brussels was a location
for settlement since prehistory but it became a noteworthy settlement after
Saint Gery built a chapel on the banks of the Senne River in 695, now called
Place Saint Gery. The city of Brussels was officially founded in 979 by Charles,
Duke of Low Lotharingia, who set down Brussels’ first city charter. Since
then Brussels has seen many rulers, renaissances and revolutions. After the
beginning of its charter, Brussels developed quickly from a town into a city.
It was the centre of trade between the cities of Bruges, Ghent and Cologne
where the Senne River met the economic route that stretched from the east
to the west of the country. The 20th century was a period of war and development.
After World War I and World War II, Germany occupying Brussels on both occasions,
Brussels was a part of the Brussels Pact (or Brussels Treaty) in 1948 which
led to the initiation of the Western European defence cooperation. At present,
the European Union, an economic cooperation, is still continuing to development.
In the 1960s the first metro lines were built to ease urban congestion; in
1970s and 1980s further political reform created the Brussels Capital Region,
expanding the City of Brussels to an urban agglomeration with a population
of just over 1 million.
Video
of Mini-Europe and Atomium
MINI-EUROPE is the only
park where you can have a tour around Europe in a few short hours. Stroll
amid the typical ambiance of the most beautiful towns of the Old Continent.
The incomparable chimes of Big Ben welcome you to the heart of London. The
gondolas and mandolinsl invite you to discover the charms of Venice. Follow
the Thalys from Paris to the other end of France.
Atomium is a of symbol of Brussels
and Belgium and unique feat in the history of architecture: the Atomium is
today the most popular attraction in the Capital of Europe. Built for the
1958 World Exhibition, the Atomium is shaped on the model of an elementary
iron crystal enlarged 165 billion times. Beyond surreal walks through tubes
and spheres, the Atomium houses a permanent exhibition about its history as
well temporary exhibitions for a broad public (sciences, design, society).
Video
of Bokrijk [Belgium History Museum]
Important
examples of rural architecture in Belgium have been preserved and moved to
an open air museum at Bokrijk (near Hasselt). Several of these have had their
external wall coverings removed so that one can see the structure of their
frames. Iron nails were seldom used. Posts and beams were joined with mortise
and tenon joints, which were pegged with wooden dowels. (The early American
colonists called these "treenails'.) Each joint is custom made; there
were no standard measurements either in thickness of the beams or in length.