The Ixelles Ponds (french: Étangs d'Ixelles) or Elsene Ponds ( nl, Vijvers van Elsene) are two freshwater ponds in the

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

municipality of

Ixelles (French, ) or ( Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the munic ...

, Belgium. The ponds we can see today are those spared by a 19th-century campaign of drying the wetlands of the

Maalbeek The Maelbeek or Maalbeek () is a stream that runs through several municipalities in Brussels, including Etterbeek, Ixelles, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Schaerbeek. It is a tributary of the Zenne, which it joins up in Schaerbeek, from its source located ...

valley between

La Cambre Abbey La Cambre Abbey (french: Abbaye de La Cambre, ) or Ter Kameren Abbey ( nl, Abdij Ter Kameren) is a former Cistercian abbey in the City of Brussels, Belgium. It is located in the Maelbeek valley between the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos a ...

and the

Place Eugène Flagey The () or (Dutch), usually shortened to the Place Flagey, or Flagey by locals, is a square in the Brussels municipality of Ixelles, Belgium. It bears the name of a former mayor of Ixelles, Eugène Flagey. With ten streets converging there, t ...

. The two long and narrow ponds, whose total lengths are approximately , and widths are approximately , are aligned on a roughly North–South axis and are separated by a narrow strip of land. With the surrounding park, the Ixelles Ponds are the tip of a long strip of almost uninterrupted greenery reaching all the way from the Sonian Forest deep into Brussels' urban tissue. The ponds are an extremely popular recreation area for local residents pertaining to the Belgian upper-crust. However, in the late 1990s, the water was polluted with

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, bl ...

. This is still the case with the boating lake in the nearby

Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos The () or ( Dutch) is an urban public park in Brussels, Belgium. It lies in the south of the Brussels-Capital Region, in the municipality of the City of Brussels, and covers an area of , forming a natural offshoot of the Sonian Forest, whic ...

where signs are posted at regular intervals, warning of a risk of

botulism Botulism is a rare and potentially fatal illness caused by a toxin produced by the bacterium ''Clostridium botulinum''. The disease begins with weakness, blurred vision, feeling tired, and trouble speaking. This may then be followed by weakne ...

. Fishing is allowed in the ponds on Wednesdays, Sundays and public holidays. File:Bruselas, Estanque de Ixelles 1.jpg, Church of the Holy Cross on the eastern shore of the north pond File:Bruselas, Estanque de Ixelles 3.jpg, North pond with the

in the background File:Bruxelles - Etang d'Ixelles.jpg, South pond, facing south

External links

{{portal, Belgium
Description of the ponds on the Belgian Tourism Board website

* ttp://www.ixelles.be/site/674-Peche Fishing rules on the Commune of Ixelles website Lakes of Brussels Parks in Brussels Urban public parks Ixelles

See also

External links