Laeken / Laken

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Map of Laken within the Brussels-Capital Region : the current area with the postcode 1020 in red, the remainder of the original municipality in pink
Atomium
Tour Japonaise de Bruxelles by night

Laeken [ ˈlaːkən ] is a district in the north of the city ​​of Brussels in the Brussels-Capital Region . Laken is the official Dutch spelling, the old Brabant form was Laeken, which still corresponds to the French spelling today. Until its incorporation in March 1921, Laeken was an independent municipality that still retains its own postcode 1020 today.

Royal Greenhouses in Laken

Laeken was twice the location of a world exhibition on the Heysel Plateau, in 1935 and 1958 . Laeken is the cradle of the International Christian Working Youth (CAJ) .

history

The first mention of it dates back to around 1080 under the Latinized form Laca . The forms Lake and Laeken have been handed down from the 17th century. The old village center is located in the area of ​​the forecourt of today's Church of Our Lady on the bank of the Molenbeek ("Mühlbach") river, which later flows into the Senne, in whose marshy course there were many lakes and ponds. The name Laeken is related to the Old High German lacha (from Latin lacus, -ūs m. - lake), which means lake , while in Brabant Flemish it stands for a swamp and with the German Lache (oil pool) and the German Laach ( Laacher See ) is related.

Like other seven rural communities in the vicinity of Brussels, which together formed the spell of the Cuve / Kuype around the imperial city, Laeken lost its independence in 1331 and was placed under Brussels law. It was not until the French Revolution and the occupation of Belgium in 1795 that Laeken became an independent municipality again.

In 1615, Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain had a road built as a direct connection between the old Laeken village center and the spring for her weekly pilgrimage to the spring of St. Anne , which is also known as the "spring of the five wounds" and is said to have worked miracles. This street was initially called Avenue du Duc / Hertoghsdreve , today Drève Sainte-Anne / Sint-Annadreef . The European School Brussels IV is located here today . She also had the spring bordered and in 1625 built the St. Anne's Chapel next to it.

Laken Castle was built in Laeken in 1782 and has been the seat of the Belgian royal family since 1831 . The greenhouses are still part of the castle today , while the Laken Park was later separated from the royal park and made accessible to the population.

Up until the beginning of the 19th century, Laeken was a small rural village and only grew in the context of industrialization and the great visions of the Belgian King Leopold II in the 1880s.

In 1851, after the death of his second wife Louise , King Leopold I commissioned a burial church for the Belgian kings: the mighty, neo-Gothic Church of Our Lady (built until 1872) was built not far from the Royal Domain under the direction of Joseph Poelaert , the architect of the Palace of Justice . The royal crypt is located here.

The old center of Laeken was largely destroyed by the construction of the railway for the northern connection between Ghent and Brussels, only remnants remained in the area of ​​the now disused Laeken train station on the forecourt of the Church of Our Lady. Later the western bypass of the railway was built, which was connected to the existing Ghent railway line at Place Bockstael in 1871 and created a track triangle there.

From 1877 until it was incorporated into Brussels in 1921, Emile Eloy Bockstael was the last mayor of Laeken.

On April 23, 1906, it was decided to put out a competition for a new town hall building. Drafts could be submitted up to August 27 of that year; The participating architects included the young Julien Flegenheimer . On June 22, 1907, the decision was made between the designs, the town hall was then inaugurated in 1912, replacing the small previous building that was still preserved in the Rue des Palais Outre-Pont / Paleizenstraat over de Brug in the center of the old Laeken.

In 1921 Laeken was incorporated into Brussels together with Neder-Over-Heembeek and Haren. This took place as part of the port expansion to the north and the lack of space in the city center.

Laeken also includes the Heysel Plateau, a plateau that was built on for the Brussels World Exhibition in 1935 and then redesigned for the 1958 World Exhibition . In addition to the Heyselpark , in which there were numerous pavilions for the 1958 Expo and only two have survived , the Atomium , the Mini-Europa Miniature Park and the King Baudouin Stadium are also part of it. In the stadium, under the old name Heysel Stadium, the Heysel disaster occurred , in which hooligans triggered a mass panic on May 29, 1985 before the final of the 1984/85 European Cup between Liverpool FC and Juventus Turin , in which there were 39 dead and 454 injured.

In December 2001, the Laeken European Summit was held in Laeken Castle .

The population development up to the incorporation in 1921 was as follows: 1814 - 1,168 inhabitants, 1831 - 1,806 inhabitants, 1846 - 4,019 inhabitants, 1885 - 21,477 inhabitants, 1900 - 30,438 inhabitants, 1920 - 40,681 inhabitants, 2005 - 51,839 inhabitants

Attractions

  • the Castle of Laken with the park and the greenhouses, ( → location )
  • the Atomium , ( → location )
  • the exhibition grounds, especially Hall 5, ( → location )
  • the Church of Our Lady ( Notre-Dame de Laeken ) with the royal crypt is the largest neo-Gothic building in Belgium, ( → location )
  • The Laken cemetery is the most beautiful and most important cemetery in the entire city of Brussels, many celebrities are buried here, ( → Location )
  • the monument in honor of Leopold I , ( → Lage )
  • the Japanese tower, ( → location )
  • the Chinese pavilion, ( → location )
  • the town hall Laken, which is no longer used as a town hall, but is used for a police station and cultural institutions ( → location ),
  • the King Baudouin Stadium, ( → location )
  • the ADAM - Brussels Design Museum,
  • the planetarium, ( → location )
  • Brugmann University Hospital, the oldest building of which was designed by Victor Horta .

  • Exhibition center, Hall 5, Heysel

  • Monument in honor of Leopold I.

  • the Chinese pavilion

  • Laken cemetery and the Church of Our Lady

sons and daughters of the town

Web links

Commons : Laeken  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guides des communes de la Régio Bruxelloise: Bruxelles (Laeken, Neder-Over-Heembeek, Haeren) . Guides CFC-Éditions, Brussels 2005, ISBN 2-930018-56-9
  2. ↑ Guides des communes de la région bruxelloise: Bruxelles (Laeken, Neder-Over-Heembeek, Haeren) . Guides CFC-Editions, Brussels 2005, ISBN 2-930018-56-9

Coordinates: 50 ° 53 '  N , 4 ° 22'  E