in 



: v -i 



BBUSSELa 



17J 



twenty jer pteviou* to lliu event U>e sultans used to reside 

 1 Hiring eevcnl oratorio* it WM the principal Mat of 

 drtsdi 



Turkish lmrmng. andTu divines wrre notorious for their prejudice* 

 UK! farMH-" ; but iU inhabitants are now distinguished fur their 

 tolstatinn u.l hospitality toward* Europeans, The populn- 

 boat 40,000, inclu.ung about MOO Armenians, 3000 Greeks, and 

 MOO Jew* of Spanish descent A rapid torrent flows along a deep gap 

 through tbe town, aad divides UM Turkuh quarter from tho Armenian. 

 Tbe streets are narrow and tulerably clean for a TurkUIi town : the 

 bouse* an mostly built of wood ami clay, liruna is well i . 

 with fountains, and contain* several very fine buildings, among which 

 UP great mosque is tbe most remarkable : in tbe mosque of I i.ui.l 

 KooMUri, rmtbrr a small building, i* tbe tomb of Sultan Orkhau. 

 The total number of mosques exceeds 800. There are alto largo 

 Hnsrr. asveral khans, colleges. Christian cburohe* and schools, and 

 more than on* synagogue. In the centre of tho town is the citadel, 

 boilt on a rock, Brtisa is one of the most important commercial 

 eentres in Turkey ; it has an important trade in raw wlk, and iU 

 indiuirul products comprise satin, carpets, longclotlm, cotton and 

 c nttoo-t irt , taprstry. Ac. Tbe trade in corn, opium, and mcersc-ban in 

 clay , which i quarried in tbe nrighl>ourhood, i* important The bazaars 

 are well stocked with all kinds of British and other European manu- 

 facture*, wbich are imported through Mudaniyeh, the port of linwa, 

 six leagues duUnt on tbe Sea of Marmara. The trade with Con- 

 stantinople, Smyrna, and tbe interior of Asia Minor is carried 

 caravan*. There are several permanent European residents in Brusa. 

 The beauty of tbe environs of Brusa is celebrated, but the principal 

 failures of the town a* well as the environs are the hot springs. The 

 chief source is about a mile and a half west of the town ; it rises out 

 of a calcareous tuff or travertine, the formation of which is still going 

 on in some places. Hamilton found tho heat of the water to be 184 

 Fahrenheit; about a hundred yards farther west there is another 

 spring, the temperature of which U 180" Fahrenheit, au<l there are 

 several more in the neighbourhood. Abd-el-Khadir, tho Arab chief, 

 so long confined in France by the policy of Louis Philippe, and at 

 last restored to liberty by the emperor Napoleon III., retired to Brusa 

 on hi* departure from France in 1852. 



(Von Hammer, l/'mbliek aaf finer Jleite nack Braia. and dem 

 Otjrsisat ; Hamilton, Rtttarckei in Alia Minor, Ac.) 



BRUSSELS (in Flemish Bruurl, in Latin Bnucdltt, and in French 

 BruxtUa), tbe capital of the kingdom of Belgium and of the province 

 of South Brabant, is situated in 50 50' X. lat, 4 22' K long., on the 

 river Seone, a small feeder of the Dyle, at a distance of 76 miles in a 

 straight line, 89 miles by railway through Maliues and Ghent K. by S. 

 from Ostead, 36 miles S. from Antwerp, anil has a population of 

 124,461, or including the suburbs about 160,000. 



The Senne enters tbe city of Brussels by two branches, one of 

 which panes by tbe old market-place, and tbe other crosses the 

 garden of tbe Cnartreux. It forms four islands in the interior of the 

 ctty, tbe two principal of which ore called Saint Gory and Bon 

 Seoours. The river is not navigable in any port of its course, but a 

 broad navigable canal runs parallel to tbe Scnne northward to 

 Vilvorde, whence it is carried to Willebroeck on tbe Kii|x:l. Another 

 canal running southward for a considerable way also parallel to the 

 Senne connects Brussels with the Sambre above CharleroL The city 

 has railway communication with all the principal towns of Belgium, 

 and with France, Germany, and the Dutch fn>nti<T. 



Tbe greatest length of Brussels from north-north-east to south- 

 south-west is about one mile and a half, and its greatest breadth about 

 a mile and a quarter. In form it resembles a rectangle combined 

 with a triangle, tbe base of the rectangle subtending the north-north- 

 east, and the vertex of the triangle, which is much roundel, lying 

 towards the south-south-west. The town is partly built on the side 

 of a hill, and when seen from the west has the appearance of a fine 

 amphitheatre. It is inclosed by a brick wall, which bos eight gates, 

 bearing respectively the names of the Antwerp, Schaerbeck, Louvain, 

 Namur, Hal, Anderlecbt, Flanders, and the Canal gates. These gates 

 communicate with high roads, lending to different jwrts of tbe kingdom, 

 which centre hi Brussels as the capital, and outside the gates are 

 several Urge suburbs. Inside the wall a wide boulevard planted with 

 fine trees runs all round the town, and is above five miles in length, 

 i is divided into an upper and a lower town. The upper 



In the northeastern angle of which is a theatre. " In the upper town 

 also are all tbe principal hotels and the residence* of foreign ambassa- 

 dors sad ministers. The leading features of the lower town are its 

 BBSMfotu w<41 built streets, which contain many fine old buildings 

 formerly the residence* of the Brabant nobility, now occupied l.y 

 stotsot* and tradespeople. It ha* uplendid churches and other public 

 buildings; and several handsome squares surrounded by noble build- 

 s*K*i some of them unrivalled pedmeos of gothic civil architecture. 

 Aa entirely new quarter, called the Quartier Leopold, has recently 

 p between the Louvain and Namur gates to the east of the 

 n. This quarter contains many modern mansions, and is 

 the fashionable part of the town. French is the prevailing 



language of Brussels, wbich is similar to Paris in many respects in 

 its operas, cafes, hotels, palace garden resembling that uf tho TuUeries, 

 and boulevards. English is very generally spoken, Brussels having 

 been for a long time resorted to by English families an a cheap place 

 of residence. Flemish also is commonly spoken. 



Brussels contains above 300 streets, besides numerous lanes and 

 courts. Several of the streets are wide and airy ; tho houses u; 

 and well built, and great care is taken to preserru their i . 

 cleanliness and neatness. The square of the great morkot-plaoa (La 

 Grande Place), situated in the centre of tho city, is a parallelogram, 

 surnmiidf.l on all sides by handsome buildings; the II 

 or town-hall of Brussels, and the halls of many trading coin 

 occupy two of itn sides. Of the other squares tho principal arc tbe 

 Place Koyole in front of tho church of St. -Jacques at the end of the 

 Hue Royule ; in the centre of this square is a fine bronze equestriau 

 statue of Godfrey de Bouillon : the Place du Grand Sublon, at the end 

 of which is the court-house, or Palais de Justice, a large structure 

 iy belonging to tho Jesu'.U : the 1' . on the south-east 



\vliich is the Prison dea Petits Cannot, built on tho site of the 

 Hotel Cuylembourg, the place of meeting at' the confederates in the 

 reign of Philip II.: the Place des Martyrs, in which is a st ' 

 Liberty, supported by four kueelin ab of 



tho Belgians slain in the revolution of September 1830 : t 

 U Monnaie, on one side of which is the Mint, and opposite it tho 

 theatre royal, a handsome structure. Among the ornaments of tho 

 t >wu are the public fountains, 29 in number, erected in di: 

 parts, which supply tbo inhabitants with water. One of these foun- 

 tains, that in the Place du Grand Sablon, consisting of a beautiful 

 group in statuary marble, was erected in 1751, under the will of tho 

 Earl of Aylesbury, " as an acknowledgment of the enjoyments he had 

 experienced at Brussels during a residence of forty years." 



Brussels contains twelve large churches, only a few of which arc 

 very remarkable for their exterior; but the interiors arc for th< 

 part decorated with rich sculptures, wood carvings, and paintings. 

 The finest of these structures are the collegiate church of Saiiite- 

 Gudule, which stands at a short distance from the Rue Royale and 

 tho chamber of deputies; the church of Notre. Dam- 

 and the church of Notre Dame de la Chapelle, situated in the Rue 

 Haute, and containing some fine oil paintings and frescoes, a pulpit 

 representing Elijah under a canopy of tbe palm-tree mid <:> union 

 an angel, and the tombs of Breughel the painter and the Spinou 

 family. Sainte-Gudule is a handsome gothic structure, of which the 

 choir and transepts were fiuUhed in 127:!. in the lit! 



tury, and the square towers in 1518. Chapters of the order of tho 

 Golden Fleece were held in this church by Philip the Good in 1435 

 and by Charles V. in 1516. The exterior was cleaned and restored in 

 1843. The interior of Sainte Gudule. is lighted through beautiful 

 painted glass windows, of which the four that adorn the chapel of the 

 Saint-Sacrcment des Miracles ore said to be unrivalled. In the choir 

 are monumental sculptures of some of the dukes of Brabant, and a 

 finely sculptured monument has been recently erected in memory of 

 the late Canon Tciste. Against tho pillars of the nave are statues of 

 Apostles by Du Quesnoy. But perhaps the greatest 

 artistic wonder of the church is Verbruggen's carved pulpit, whieh 

 represents Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise by an angel, who is 

 seen wielding the fiery sword on one side of tho globe while 

 appears with his dart on tbe other : the trees of life and of kii" 

 ami various animals are beautifully represented. The pulpit, which is 

 formed by the hollow of tho globe, is surmounted by a canopy mi 

 which stands the Blessed Virgin and the infant Jesus, who crushes 

 the serpent's head with the foot of the cross. This pulpit was 

 executed for tbe Jesuits of Louvain; on the suppression of the order 

 it was presented to Sainte-Gudule by Maria Theresa. Tho marriage 

 of the Duke of Brabant, crown prince of Belgium, with the archduchess 

 Marie of Austria, was celebrated in the church of Sainto-Qudulo 

 August 22, 1853. There are two Protestant chapels in Brussels, one 

 near the museum, and the other on the Boulevard de 1'Obaervatoire. 



Tho Hotel-de-Ville, or town-hall, tho finest municipal palace in 

 Belgium or elsewhere, was begun in 1401 and finished iu 1442. Tho 

 fill tower of gothic open work is 364 feet high, and sur- 

 mounted by a gilded statue in copi>er of St. Michael, 17 fot : 

 which serves as a weathercock. The interior was greatly injured 

 during the first French revolution, and it contains little worth notice 

 now except some tapestries representing the abdication of Chai ! 

 in 1555, which event however took place in the old ducal palace ili.it 

 stood on the site of the Place Royalo and was burnt down in 17 ;.;. 

 In tho market-place in front of the town-hall the Counts Egmout and 

 Horn were beheaded in 1668. 



The Hotel-de-Bellevuc, which stands between tbe Place Royale and 

 the park, was occupied l>y the Belgians during tbe revolution of 1830, 

 and was riddled with shot At the opposite angle of tho Place 

 Royale stand the stables of the Prince of Orange, and a little farther 

 along, towards the Rue do la Madeleine, is tho Palace of the Fine Arts. 

 This building was formerly the palace of the dukes of Brabant, and 

 subsequently of tbe Spanish and Austrian governors of the Nether- 

 lands. It is now converted into a museum, containing a picture 

 gallery, hi wbich are several paintings by Rubens and other great 

 Flemish painters ; the public library, iu which ore 200,000 volume* 



