Saint-Géry Island
Saint-Géry Island (
Location and accessibility
Saint-Géry Island's easternmost edge was located more or less due west across today's Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan from the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein and the former Brussels Stock Exchange building. The island was roughly round, and was originally centred on the Church of St. Gaugericus, then following the church's demolition in 1798–1802, on the Halles Saint-Géry/Sint-Gorikshallen, a former covered market, which has since become one of Brussels' trendiest districts.
Many streets and buildings in the area still bear the name Saint-Géry/Sint-Goriks. On a small square between the Place Saint-Géry/Sint-Goriksplein and the Rue Saint-Christophe/Sint-Kristoffelsstraat, there is also still a dead arm of the Senne, the only part of the river in the city centre that is not vaulted. This neighbourhood is served by the .
History
Early history
According to local legend,
When
By the 12th century, the island was home to a high density of
At the end of the 18th century, under the French revolutionary regime, the Gothic Church of St. Gaugericus (which had replaced the chapel) was razed, replaced by a fountain centred on an obelisk, dating from 1767, which had been taken from Grimbergen Abbey (in present-day Flemish Brabant). The square was an open-air market for the following century.
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The Church of St. Gaugericus in the 18th century (demolished 1798–1802)
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Cartoon showing the Place Saint-Géry/Sint-Goriksplein during the flood of January 1820
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Saint-Géry Island in 1867, before the covering of the Senne
19th century–present
Around 1870, when the Senne was covered over, the island ceased to exist as an island and some of its eastern sections were demolished to make way for the modern bourgeois housing on the newly constructed Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan (then called the Boulevard Central/Centraallaan). Plans were made to create a covered market to replace the open-air one, and in 1882, work was completed. The building, known as the Halles Saint-Géry (Dutch: Sint-Gorikshallen) was designed by the architect Adolphe Vanderheggen in the Flemish neo-Renaissance style. The interior, which still includes the old fountain-obelisk, has four rows of double blue stone stalls. The building's metallic structure is an outstanding architectural example of hall design.
The Halles Saint-Géry prospered until after the
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Construction of the Halles Saint-Géry/Sint-Gorikshallen, c. 1881
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The Halles Saint-Géry as it appears today
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Interior of the Halles Saint-Géry
See also
- History of Brussels
- Belgium in the long nineteenth century
References
Footnotes
- ^ French: Saint Géry, Dutch: Sint-Goriks
Citations
- ^ a b State 2004, p. 269.
- ISBN 90-450-0853-X
- ^ a b (in Dutch) Zo ontstond Brussel Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie - Commission of the Flemish Community in Brussels
- ^ Mardaga 1994, p. 339.
- ^ Riché 1983, p. 276.
- ^ "Brussels Town Hall". The Belgian Monarchy. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2007.
- ^ "LOI – WET". www.ejustice.just.fgov.be (in French). Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- ^ Deligne 2005, p. 15.
- ^ Deligne 2005, p. 29.
- ^ Deligne 2005, p. 9.
Bibliography
- Deligne, Chloé (2005). Bruxelles sortie des eaux : Les relations entre la ville et ses cours d'eau du Moyen Age à nos jours (in French). Brussels: Musées de la Ville de Bruxelles. ISBN 978-2-9600373-1-9.
- Riché, Pierre (1983). The Carolingians; A Family Who Forged Europe. Michael Idomir Allen (trans.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- State, Paul F. (2004). "Brusselization". Historical dictionary of Brussels. Historical dictionaries of cities of the world. Vol. 14. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5075-0.
- Le Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique: Bruxelles (PDF) (in French). Vol. 1C: Pentagone N-Z. Liège: Pierre Mardaga. 1994.
External links
- Media related to Place Saint-Géry/Sint-Goriksplein, Brussels at Wikimedia Commons
- Halles Saint Géry official homepage - Events calendar, Photo gallery, and more.
- ASBL Saint Géry - Neighbours and Businesses Association.