City of Brussels
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Flag of The City of Brussels |
The
City of Brussels (
French:
Bruxelles-Ville or
Ville de Bruxelles,
Dutch:
Stad Brussel) is one of the
municipalities (the largest one) of the
Brussels-Capital Region in
Belgium and is the official capital of Belgium.
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The City of Brussels within the Brussels-Capital Region |
A bit like the
City of London is different from
London, the City of Brussels is different from
Brussels. However, the expansion of the City was frozen at a later date than the City of London, so that in addition to the old center of Brussels, the towns of
Haren (
Dutch) or
Haeren (
French),
Laken (
Dutch) or
Laeken (
French) and
Neder-Over-Heembeek (
Dutch and
French), the
Louise Avenue and the
Bois de la Cambre (
Ter Kamerenbos in Dutch) are included.
On January 1st, 2006, the City of Brussels had a total population of 144,784. The total area is 32.61
km² which gives a
population density of 4,440 inhabitants per km².
Although some misbelieve that the capital of Belgium is Brussels at large, according to the Belgian Constitution (Art. 194 ) the capital of Belgium is the City of Brussels municipality. Arguments that the use of lower case in
"ville" and
"stad" in Article 194 for
"ville de Bruxelles" (French),
"stad Brussel" (Dutch) makes a subtle difference and means that Brussels at large is the capital cannot be defended on a legal basis. However, although the City of Brussels is the official capital, the by the federation and region delegated funds for the representative role of the capital are divided among the 19 municipalities and in practice, national Belgian institutions are indeed not only located in the City of Brussels, although many are, but also in most of the other 18 municipalities of the
Brussels-Capital region. Meaning that
de facto the entire Region serves as capital, but
de jure only the City of Brussels is entitled to the title of capital of Belgium.
As in every other Belgian municipality, the City of Brussels is headed by a
mayor, which should neither be confused with the
Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region nor with the
Governor of Brussels-Capital.
See also: List of mayors of the City of Brussels*
Official web site of The City of Brussels (in French or Dutch only)
*
Page related to The City of Brussels in the Brussels-Capital Region official web site*
Interactive map of Brussels historical city centre
