It's all about Brussels...

Figure 1: The remains of the wall of Brussels.

Today we received a lecture on the cultural history of Belgium and the history and importance of Brussels. Apprently, Brussels is the capital of Europe, and has seen many wars and changes, so remember how I mentioned that I should brace myself for the unexpected? The city tour was 4 hours long in some intense, uncomfortable heat, so that was unexpected. Perhaps our tour guide has experienced some of this “cruelly disfigured and violated (242)” events that Brussels has been through, which causes a person to have more endurance than the average person who hasn’t seen as much. Thus, our tour guide was able to last 4 hours walking in intense heat without having to take a break or take a sip of water at all. Europeans are impressive.

The architecture of the city caught my eye the most because the city seems a bit run down, but it makes sense because of “‘brusselisation’, meaning the brutal demolition of large areas without building anything sensible to replace them. All these colossal projects were necessary to make Brussels a worthy capital of Belgium (Van Istendael 240).” I noticed when the tour guide pointed out what remained of the brick wall of Brussels that it definitely looked like it was torn down without any pattern to follow. Van Istendael mentions that these actions were necessary to make this city the capital of Belgium so it can symbolize the history and experiences these people had to endure. The people of Belgium know “only too well what invasion is like, and… have lived always between powerful and aggressive neighbours who preferred to fight things out in the Low Countries rather than on their own soil. It makes the Belgian expect defeat… (Patricia Arson 212).” So having a city whose architecture and buildings torn down can easily symbolize how these people have experienced defeat, having their land invaded several times, and seen wars fought out on their own soil. These worn down buildings are contrasted with the buildings following the style of Art Nouveau, where they use metal as their material for building while following the patterns of nature instead of the style and patterns of the past. The presence of destructed buildings and royal architecture of Art Nouveau seems to show how Brussels will carry on in the future as the capital of Europe, even though it has been through many rough times.