Brussels - Quartier des Marolles

 
The Quartier des Marolles occupies a triangular area on the south side of Brussels' center between the Gare du Midi, Porte de Hal and, towering high above everything, the Palais de Justice. Up to now the district has always been the preserve of the under-privileged, living by their wits and deeply distrustful of "the authorities". This distrust has been fuelled anew now that the very survival of the quarter is threatened by a wave of speculative building and an influx of EC employees for whom the Marolles is the "smart" place to have an apartment - after it has been luxuriously restored that is! About 10,000 people live in the area, mainly low wage earners, shopkeepers and tradespeople, often speaking a patois incomprehensible to outsiders by whom they tend to be regarded as loud-mouthed and uncouth.

Must-see attractions nearby:
Even in the Middle Ages the Marolles was a refuge for the persecuted and today as many as a third of its inhabitants are thought to be illegal immigrants. The quarter's most famous son was Pieter Bruegel the Elder whose house stands in the Rue Haute (Hoogstraat; No. 132).

Related Attractions

Read More Palais de Justice (Justeipaleis)

Read More Flea Market

Read More Notre-Dame de la Chapelle (Kapellekerk)

Read More Place du Jeu de Balle (Vossenplein)

Read More Porte de Hal (Hallepoort)

Statue in a hall of the Palais de Justice in Brussels.Statue in a hall of the Palais de Justice in Brussels.
Suggest Correction  Suggest an Attraction
©Copyright 1995-2012 PlanetWare Inc. All rights reserved.
Unauthorized duplication in part or whole without prior written consent prohibited by international laws.
x
Pictures of Brussels
Street restaurant in Brussels. Be sure to check out our awesome photos of Brussels!