The Belgian Quarter (german: Belgisches Viertel,
Standard , ) is an inner city district of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
, Germany. The name is derived from street names in the vicinity, referring to Belgian provinces or cities.
In the northern part of the Quarter, street names such as ''
Goebenstraße,
Werderstraße,
Moltkestraße'' and ''
Spichernstraße'' celebrate the leaders and victories of Prussia in the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 which brought down the
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Empire, Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the French Second Republic, Second and the French Third Republic ...
and led to the creation of a new
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
.
At the heart of the Belgian Quarter is the ''Brüsseler Platz'', or Brussels Square, dominated by the
neo-Romanesque
Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...
St Michael's Church, built between 1902 and 1906. On warm summer nights the square can fill with hundreds of young people having fun, keeping residents from their sleep.
With a wide variety of cuisine, this ''Veedel'' (the
local language
*
A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area.
Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Lan ...
term for quarter) of Cologne is now considered fashionable, and in the July 2010 issue of the
lifestyle magazine
Lifestyle journalism is the field of journalism that provides news and opinion, often in an entertaining tone, regarding goods and services used by consumers in their everyday life. Lifestyle journalism covers travel, fashion, fitness, leisure, fo ...
''Prinz'' it was named as the part of the city most worth living in. The publication's web site continues to praise it as an "upmarket residential district and meeting place for the creative arts".
Belgisches Viertel Ein Kölner Stadtteil voller Kreativität und Nachtleben: Wo bitte geht's nach Belgien?
at prinz.de, accessed 2 March 2013 The TV show '' NightWash'' was set in a laundrette in the district for years.
References
{{Coord, 50, 56, 18, N, 6, 56, 5, E, display=title
Boroughs and quarters of Cologne
Innenstadt, Cologne