Brussels City Map Poster

About Brussels

Brussels is the capital of Belgium, and its largest city. It has a population of over one million people, making it the country's largest municipality. The Brussels-Capital Region is an administrative region with special status within Belgium for several reasons: The City of Brussels itself forms part of this region as does each other Belgian municipality (commune) that falls within its borders; but not every commune in the Walloon or Flemish regions belongs to it. It was created on 1 January 2000 by a constitutional reform in which most governmental powers were transferred from the French Community and Flemish Community to both entities so they could function better together as one single unitary state while maintaining their own governments.[1] Its boundaries correspond roughly with those defined by 19th century imperial decrees known collectively as Leopold I's arrondissements.[2][3] Its territory covers 1150 km²[4], which makes it one quarter larger than New York State,[5] although still slightly smaller than Rhode Island or Delaware.[6][7].