The area now known as Brussels has been inhabited since about 2250 BC when some Neolithic farmers set down roots. The area was conquered by Julius Caesar and became a prime part of the Roman Empire, where a lot of well heeled Romans built their country villas. After the fall of Rome, the town continued to slowly grow. Legend has it that St Géry, bishop of Cambrai and Arras, built a chapel on one of the islands in the swampy Senne. The town slowly but surely became a hub of commerce. In 1229, Henri I, Duke of Brabant, published the first Brussels town charter. In 1302, the people of Brussels rebelled and, after some victories, were defeated at the Battle of Vilvoorde. Nevertheless, the craftsmen and merchants of Brussels continued to make money. The city and the region around it changed hands several times throughout the ensuing centuries, from Burgundy, to the Austrian Hapsburgs, to the Spanish Hapsburgs, to the French. Finally, in 1832, Brussels became the capital of the Kingdom of Belgium. Belgium suffered greatly during the two World Wars under German occupation. Brussels is now the capital of the European Union and is enjoying a building boom along with an interesting identity crisis.

Cathédrale des Sts Michel & Gudule

This twin towered cathedral, named after the male and female patron saints of Brussels, is perched on a hillside north of Gare Centrale. It was begun is 1226 and took three hundred years to complete. As a result the cathedral reflects the entire history of styles of church building, from Romanesque through all the stages of Gothic and right up to Renaissance. Beautiful stained-glass windows flood the nave with light. The enormous wooden pulpit, depicting Adam and Eve being driven out of Eden by fearsome skeletons, is worth inspecting. In the crypt are the remains of an 11th-century Romanesque chapel. In the northern chapel on the left side of the choir, one can see the portraits of several kings and emperors who bestowed the richly decorated glass-stained windows, including Joao III of Portugal, Louis of Hungary, François I of France and Ferdinand I. In the choir the windows of the following rulers can be seen: Maximilian of Austria, Philip the Beautiful, Charles V, Philip II of Spain, Philibert of Savoy with his wife Margaret of Austria.