The Royal Quarter[1] (French: Quartier Royal or Quartier de la Cour; Dutch: Koninklijke Wijk or Koningswijk) is a quarter in the historic upper town of Brussels, Belgium.[2][3] It is situated between Brussels Park, the Royal Palace, the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg and the Sablon/Zavel. It is a excellent example of 18th-century urban architecture.[4]
Royal Quarter
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Neighbourhood | |
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  Royal Quarter Location within Brussels   Royal Quarter Royal Quarter (Belgium) | |
| Coordinates: 50°50′40″N 4°21′48″E / 50.84444°N 4.36333°E | |
| Country | Belgium |
| Region | Brussels-Capital Region |
| Municipality | City of Brussels |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 1000 |
| Area codes | 02 |
History
editThe Royal Quarter's creation began in 1774 with the construction of the Place Royale/Konigsplein at the instigation of Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands.[5] The authors of the project were the French architects Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré and Gilles-Barnabé Guimard.[6] It was largely complete by 1783.
At the centre of the new district is Brussels Park, the main alley of which forms an axis connecting the Royal Palace and the Palace of the Council of Brabant (today's Palace of the Nation). The streets surrounding the park were built in accordance with the strict rules of neoclassical architecture.[7]
The district marked a new stage in the history of Brussels' urban development. It was there that, for the first time in the city's history, such urban planning elements and principles as straight "perspective" streets, standard façades, and pavements were widely used.[4] As such, it is a striking example of urban development and architecture of the Enlightenment.[8][4]
See also
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References
editCitations
edit- ^ "The Royal Quarter: where art and history share centre stage". www.visit.brussels. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
- ^ Wasseige 1995.
- ^ Smolar-Meynart & Vanrie 1998.
- ^ a b c Loir 2007, p. 31–58.
- ^ Wasseige 1995, p. 8–9.
- ^ Wasseige 1995, p. 15.
- ^ Lombaerde 2004, p. 130.
- ^ Wasseige 1995, p. 9–13.
Bibliography
edit- Loir, Christophe (2007). "Un espace urbain d'une étonnante modernité: le quartier Royal". Espaces et parcours dans la ville de Bruxelles au XVIIIe siècle (in French). Brussels: Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles. ISBN 978-2-8004-1402-7.
- Lombaerde, Piet (2004). "De stedenbouw van het 'embellissement'". Stedebouw : de geschiedenis van de stad in de Nederlanden van 1500 tot heden (in Dutch). Amsterdam: SUN. ISBN 978-90-6168-401-5.
- Smolar-Meynart, Arlette; Vanrie, André (1998). Le Quartier royal (in French). Brussels: CFC Éditions. ISBN 978-2-930018-17-1.
- Wasseige, Manoëlle (1995). Le Quartier Royal. Bruxelles, ville d'Art et d'Histoire (in French). Vol. 15. Brussels: Éditions de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale.
External links
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Media related to Royal Quarter at Wikimedia Commons
