#brussel

[mitskifiles]

Mitski performing in Brussels.

[kropotkindersurprise]

June 16, 2024 - Around 10.000 antifascists marched through Brussels to show their disgust with the Belgian EU election results, in which fascist party Vlaams Belang got 14,5% of the votes, and other far-right parties also got huge shares of the vote. During the march the headquarters of Vlaams Belang was pelted with rocks and trash and covered in graffiti. [video]

[castelnou]

palis de justice

bruxelles (belgique)

[heritagebrowser]

The chapel on the left of the altar of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Zavelkerk in Brussels belonging to the Thurn und Taxis family.

Saint Ursula Chapel, a unique Italian Baroque style chapel in black Belgian marble and white Carrara marble, was built according to a design by Lucas Fayd'herbe (1617-1697). The sculptures are by various southern Netherlandish sculptors. The restored Caritas statue made by Jan van Delen was recently placed back. The statue was confiscated by French revolutionaries in 1795 and therefore returned after more than 200 years.

The von Thurn und Taxis family initiated international postal traffic in Europe. A German descendant is today known as the richest man in his thirties and the largest private landowner in Europe with 28,000 hectares. The powerful 'DHL predecessors' von Thurn und Taxis had the chapels added to the church in the second half of the seventeenth century.

Von Thurn und Taxis (also Thurn and Tassis in Dutch) is a German noble family of Italian origin that acquired great wealth through its activities in the postal system. The current monarch, Albert II von Thurn und Taxis, resides in the Fürstliches Schloss of Regensburg. For two centuries the family was based in Brussels, where they owned a city palace (ca. 1500-1700). The still existing site of Thurn and Taxis was at the time the grazing land for the post horses.

The patriarch of the postal dynasty was Omodeo Tasso, the first family member to be located in Cornello dei Tasso. At the end of the 13th century, he and 32 relatives organized the Compagnia dei Corrieri, a courier company that worked on behalf of the Serenissima (Venice). She provided foot connections between Venice, Milan and Rome, Genoa,... The Bergamots had always occupied a major place in the old Venetian postal service (couriers were called bergamaschi in Italy). At the end of the 15th century they organized themselves into the Compagnia dei Corrieri dei Roma, a company controlled by the Tasso family.

Other members of the family were called to the Papal States to take care of the papal post. They did this from 1460 to 1539. It was two brothers from another branch who eventually took the business to a European level: Janetto and Francesco. As head of the family (procuratore generale della famiglia e società di Tassi), Janetto entered into a contract with Emperor Maximilian I to set up a truly transnational post (1489-90). He had to connect the emperor's headquarters in Innsbruck with Italy, the Burgundian Netherlands (Mechelen) and France. Janetto was given the title Kuriermeister and called on his brother Francesco and his cousin Giovanni Battista. Under the leadership of the trio, an innovative relay service was created that allowed messages to travel at a speed never before seen in Europe. Thanks to a succession of stopping places along the routes, it was possible to constantly change horses and riders. Only the leather mailbag ("Felleisen") was constantly in motion.

Francesco settled in the Netherlands around 1500, after his brother David had prepared the way. Under Maximilian's son Philip the Fair, he became postmaster and captain and had a beautiful city palace built in Brussels. After the government of Spain de facto fell to Philip, he renewed his agreement with Francesco of Tassis. The new postal contract of January 18, 1505 included more destinations and, for the first time, binding order deadlines (extended in winter). The postmaster guaranteed strict compliance with his life. A star-shaped network of postal routes departed from Brussels: to Innsbruck, to Paris-Blois-Lyon, to Toledo-Granada. For the important route to Spain, an alternative was provided via the Alps and the sea in the event of war with France.

[cunctatormax]

Meanwhile in Brussels

Hungarians are fighting for their souverignity. (travellina.hu in action)

[rpirquet]

📷 L’automne au Cinquantenaire, Bruxelles… 🍂

[minarachelle]

Dieweg cemetery, Brussels, Belgium - 2022

[dailybrussels]

La Petite Europe, 2023.

[darlinhutchence]

"music is the closest thing we have to magic" - michael hutchence

📸: gie knaeps, live in belgium circa 1990

[starstruckkittenglitter]

[seeingeurope]

Brussels, Belgium 🇧🇪 - 📷 Guildhalls at the Grand Place

[kropotkindersurprise]

November 13, 2024 - Antifascists protesting against the visit of French fascist Jordan Bardella clashed with police in the streets of Brussels, Belgium, and attacked the headquarters of Flemish fascist party Vlaams Belang.

[castelnou]

horta museum

brussels (belgium)

[heritagebrowser]

Some 17th and 18th century gabled houses in Brussels.

Brussels looked before the 19th century not dissimilar to the Flemish cities with streets lined with gabled houses and an urban fabric woven with rivers and canals. The 19th century brought haussmannisation and canalusing the rivers underground and the 20th century bruxellisation /brusselization continuing the onslaught on the picturesque historical city.

[vintage-every-day]

Cinquantenaire, Brussels, Belgium, July 1939.

[rpirquet]

📷 Villa Empain, Brussel, Belgium … by night ✨