Tour & Taxis (french: Tour et Taxis, nl, Thurn en Taxis) is a large former industrial site in

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 ...

, Belgium. It is situated on the

Brussels Canal The Brussels Canal (french: Canal de Bruxelles, nl, Kanaal van Brussel) is a section of waterway in Brussels, Belgium. It generally refers to the northernmost portion of the Brussels–Charleroi Canal (from the Ninove Gate to the Sainctelette ...

in the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...

, just north-west of the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

, immediately adjacent to

Laeken () or () is a residential suburb in the north-western part of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. It belongs to the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality of the City of Brussels and is mostly identified by the ...

and

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

, and about west from the Northern Quarter

business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. The site is composed of large warehouses and offices surrounding a former

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...

station called the Maritime Station (french: Gare Maritime, link=no, nl, Maritiem Station, link=no), and its spacious central hall known as the (french: Entrepôt Royal, link=no, nl, Koninklijk Pakhuis, link=no). The main buildings on the site are made of brick, glass and

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

, and are prime examples of 19th-century

industrial architecture Industrial architecture is the design and construction of buildings serving industry. Such buildings rose in importance with the Industrial Revolution, starting in Britain, and were some of the pioneering structures of modern architecture. File:R ...

. Though the site was long disused following its loss of importance as a shipping and customs hub, it has been partially restored, and is now used for large cultural events, which have included Couleur Café Festival, the Brussels Design Market, , Art Brussels,

The Color Run The Color Run is an event series and 5K run, five kilometer paint race, inspired by the Hindu festival of Holi, that is owned and operated by The Color Run LLC, a for-profit company. It takes place in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, N ...

Belgium and

Salon du Chocolat The Salon du Chocolat (Literally, Salon of Chocolate in French, but more loosely translated Paris Chocolate Show) is a yearly trade fair for the international chocolate industry. Begun in 1994, the event is supported by the French Ministry of For ...

, as well as for office space.

History

Origins: Thurn und Taxis family

Over the long history of the swampy lands that originally constituted the site, certain parcels belonged to the

Thurn und Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end ...

(or ''Tassis'') German noble family.

Philip the Fair Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (french: Philippe le Bel), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre as Philip I from 1 ...

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

promoted Frans Von Tassis to

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

in 1504; a position Tassis also held for

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519) was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death. He was never crowned by the pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed himself El ...

, beginning in 1489. Francisco moved the family to Brussels by 1516, and from there they organised the first international

postal service The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

. The imperial postal service linked the wealthy

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

to the Spanish court, and served the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

and the rest of Europe. The horse-based postal service would be based in Brussels for nearly two centuries before moving to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany, in 1704. The fields in were used as pasture for the family's horses. The family gave their name to a small road that crossed through the area. This was rendered into French as ''Tour et Taxis'', and would give its name to the area after its transition into a busy port.

Industrialisation

Along with much of the rest of Europe, Belgium experienced intense economic and

industrial growth Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

during the "long nineteenth century". The

Willebroek Canal Willebroek (, old spelling: ''Willebroeck'') is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of , Heindonk, , Klein Willebroek, and Willebroek proper. In 2021, Willebroek had a total population of ...

, which had originally been constructed in the 1550s and 1560s, took on increased importance in Belgium's global trade over the course of the 1800s, as it connects Brussels to the

Scheldt River The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to ...

and ultimately the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. In 1895, the Tour & Taxis site was selected by the Belgian State and the

as the location for a new commercial station along the

. Construction of the Tour & Taxis industrial complex, spread over of land, officially began on 22 July 1900, with

King Leopold II * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

present for the inaugural festivities. Tour & Taxis was one of the first multi-modal

transport platforms in the world. Frédéric Bruneel served as the main engineer for the project, while , Constant Bosmans and Henri Vandeveld worked as architects. Central to the site's functionality was the Maritime Station (french: Gare Maritime, link=no, nl, Maritiem Station, link=no), a freight station constructed by Bruneel beginning in 1902 and open from 1907. The expansive steel and glass structure was designed to efficiently receive goods by land, water and rail. Major sources of cargo included sugar, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, and chocolate. Customs and excise duties were then collected on-site via the Customs House (french: Hôtel des Douanes, link=no, nl, Douanegebouw, link=no), and goods were stored in bonded warehouses—the Public Depot (french: Entrepôt Public, link=no, nl, Publieke Opslagplaats, link=no) and the Royal Depot (french: Entrepôt Royal, link=no, nl, Koninklijk Pakhuis, link=no)—before their redistribution. The Maritime Station was controlled by the

Belgian State Railways The Belgian State Railways ( nl, Belgische Staatsspoorwegen; french: Chemins de fer de l'État Belge) was the original state-owned railway of Belgium. Established by an organic law of 1 May 1834, it began construction of its first line, between Bru ...

(and, from 1926, the

National Railway Company of Belgium french: Société nationale des chemins de fer belgesgerman: Nationale Gesellschaft der Belgischen Eisenbahnen , type = Statutory corporation , industry = Rail Transport , foundation = 1926 , founder = Government of ...

), while the bonded warehouses were managed by the (and later, the

Port of Brussels The Port of Brussels (french: Port de Bruxelles, nl, Haven van Brussel) is an inland port at a distance of 120 km from the sea. It is accessible for ships up to 4,500 tonnes and push towing convoys up to 9,000 tonnes. Via the Brussels–Scheld ...

). The buildings have been recognised for the quality of their construction. According to

La Fonderie, Brussels Museum of Industry and Labour La Fonderie, Brussels Museum of Industry and Labour (french: La Fonderie, Musée bruxellois des industries et du travail, nl, La Fonderie, Brussels museum van de industrie en de arbeid) is a museum of industrial history in Brussels, Belgium. ...

, the Tour & Taxis site is a "catalogue of architecture and civil engineering", as well as "a testament to the skills of Belgian engineers and workers, and their mastery of steel, iron, stone, glass and concrete." Their appearance was influenced by both the

Flemish Renaissance The Renaissance in the Low Countries was a cultural period in the Northern Renaissance that took place in around the 16th century in the Low Countries (corresponding to modern-day Belgium, the Netherlands and French Flanders). Culture in the Low C ...

and the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

style characteristic of early 20th-century Brussels.

Growth and decline

During the first half of the 20th century, the busy Tour & Taxis site furthered industrial and economic development in Brussels. According to La Fonderie, "construction of the complex and the port resulted in the development of the surrounding area, where life soon revolved around the packaging, storage, sale and transportation of different cargoes... Outstanding industrial buildings sprang up, followed by residential buildings and workers' housing estates. The Tour & Taxis complex was a hive of social and economic activity. In its heyday at the end of the 1960s, it employed a workforce of almost 3,000." As Europe's economic landscape shifted over the latter half of the 20th century, so did Tour & Taxis' importance as a centre of commerce and industry. The

Treaty of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was sig ...

in 1957, of which Belgium was a signing member, created the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

(EEC) and initiated Europe's move away from economic borders and towards a single market via reduced

customs duties A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...

and the establishment of a

customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set up ...

. At the same time, Belgium's expansion of its roads and highways in the 1960s and 1970s (see

Transport in Belgium Transport in Belgium is facilitated with well-developed road, air, rail and water networks. The rail network has of electrified tracks. There are of roads, among which there are of motorways, of main roads and of other paved roads. There is ...

) facilitated the increased transport of goods by road versus waterways or railways. The free movement of capital and goods within the EEC (and, from 1993, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

), combined with the changing means by which those goods were distributed within member states, gradually made the original function of the buildings at Tour & Taxis irrelevant. The Public Depot and the Royal Depot were rented out to private companies for storage space, but building maintenance became too expensive for the railway and port companies to maintain. By the 1990s, the

and the

(NMBS/SNCB) each put their shares of the Tour & Taxis property up for sale.

Redevelopment

What Tour & Taxis would become in its next iteration remained unclear for several years. Plans to develop a 12,000-person concert hall on the premises were met with opposition by organisations like La Fonderie,

The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage, usually known by its acronym TICCIH, is the international society dedicated to the study of industrial archaeology and the protection, promotion and interpretation of the ...

, the

International Council on Monuments and Sites The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS; french: links=no, Conseil international des monuments et des sites) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the worl ...

World Monuments Watch World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and traini ...

and

Europa Nostra Europa Nostra (Italian for "Our Europe") is a pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage, representing citizens' organisations that work on safeguarding Europe's cultural and natural heritage. It is the voice of this movement to relevant intern ...

. Project T&T, a joint venture among three real estate development companies— Extensa (

Ackermans & van Haaren Ackermans & van Haaren (often abbreviated as AvH) is a diversified group active in: Marine Engineering & Contracting (DEME, one of the largest dredging companies in the world - CFE, a construction group with headquarters in Belgium), Private Banki ...

), RB Management, and IRET development—purchased the site in 2001. Extensa bought out the other partners in 2014. Each of the historical buildings has been renovated or is in the process of being renovated as part of a mixed-use development with office space, residences, a public park, public services, shopping and restaurants, while preserving the architectural heritage of the site.

Heritage buildings

The Royal Depot was the first to be redeveloped. The original train track running through the bonded warehouse was replaced with an inner walkway lined by shops, restaurants such as

Le Pain Quotidien Le Pain Quotidien (French for ''the daily bread'') is an international chain of bakery-restaurants. It sells baked goods, bread, salads, sandwiches, beverages, and tartines. Le Pain Quotidien operates more than 260 bakery-restaurant locations ...

, bars, a spa, and a childcare centre. The former storerooms on the upper floors were converted to office space and are occupied by law offices, creative and communications agencies, insurance companies, the public sector, and the like. The former Public Depot (renamed the "Sheds"), once used to store incoming goods, was redeveloped next and is now one of the largest events venues in Brussels. The Sheds now host large events such as , the Foire du Livre book fair, the International Brussels Tattoo Convention, the Affordable Art Fair, JapanCon Brussels and BXLBeerFest, among others. The former Hôtel de la Poste administrative building is now used for meetings and events such as the International Interior Design Exhibition Brussels. The former Hôtel des Douanes customs building is utilised as temporary office space, and is currently occupied by the Belgian branch of French public relations firm

Publicis Groupe Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world by revenue, it is headquartered in Paris. After 1945, the little-known Paris ...

. Extensa is currently redeveloping the Maritime Station, and announced plans to reopen the freight station in 2020 as a year-round "covered neighbourhood" with workspaces, a food hall, gardens and events space. The renovated station will use

geothermal energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...

along with repurposed paving stones and wood from the original building. It will use electrochromic technology for its intelligent glass window glazing, which uses electric pulses to adjust the opacity of each window, with the option of creating either a dimmed or

one-way mirror A one-way mirror, also called two-way mirror (or one-way glass, half-silvered mirror, and semi-transparent mirror), is a reciprocal mirror that appears reflective on one side and transparent at the other. The perception of one-way transmission i ...

effect. Standalone workspaces made from wooden modules are anticipated to accommodate 2,000 people within the station. In 2008, Tour & Taxis was named a winner of the European Heritage Europa Nostra Awards in recognition of the conservation and redevelopment of its heritage buildings.

New developments

Two new office buildings have been developed at Tour & Taxis. When it opened in 2015, the Brussels Environment building was the largest passive office building in Belgium. The building was rated and certified as "excellent" by

BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...

in recognition of its

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

. The , open in 2017, and currently housing the administration of the

Flemish Government The Flemish Government ( nl, Vlaamse regering ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Parliament, a ...

, is now the country's largest passive office building.

Neutelings Riedijk Architects Neutelings Riedijk Architects is an architecture firm based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, founded by Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk in 1987. Work and design philosophy The work of Neutelings Riedijk Architects has been characteri ...

designed the building using recycled materials, geothermic heating, rainwater recycling, and

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...

ed electricity. The Herman Teirlinck building won an EU Mies Award in 2019. The rail lines that once brought trains and their goods to the Maritime Station remained on the Tour & Taxis site decades after the closure of the freight station. Beginning in 2013, they were removed and replaced with a park which will total when complete. According to former Brussels Minister of the Environment and Energy, Évelyne Huytebroek, it is the largest park to be developed in Brussels since the time of King Leopold II. Residential apartments were added to Tour & Taxis in 2017, 31 of which were sold to the City of Brussels for use as subsidised housing. The site's current residential development project, known as Park Lane, is to be located near the Maritime Station and the park, and will feature an estimated 900 homes. The City of Brussels began developing a pedestrian and cyclist bridge on the Brussels Canal connecting

Brussels-North railway station Brussels-North railway station (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Nord, nl, Station Brussel-Noord), officially Brussels-North (french: Bruxelles-Nord, link=no, nl, Brussel-Noord, link=no), is one of the three major railway stations in Brussels, Bel ...

and Tour & Taxis in autumn 2019. The bridge is to be named after , a pioneer in the Brussels LGBTIQ+ movement in the 20th century. In 2018, Brussels announced plans to create new tram lines connecting

Belgica metro station Belgica is a Brussels Metro station on line 6. It is located in the municipality of Jette, in the north-west of Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one ...

on the border of

Jette Jette (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Ganshoren, Koekelberg, and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, as well as the Flemi ...

and

with Brussels-North railway station, and with the Place Charles Rogier/Karel Rogierplein in

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode () or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (), often simply called Saint-Josse or Sint-Joost, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the Ci ...

via Tour & Taxis.

Social engagement and urban industry

In 2018, Tour & Taxis invited the public to name new private and public streets on the redeveloped site. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', "Belgian citizens were given the chance to name 28 streets, alleys, squares and walkways that make up the former industrial zone of Tour & Taxis. The final names were chosen by a jury comprising city officials, local heritage experts and property developer Extensa." ''Ceci n'est pas une rue'' ("This is not a street") was one choice, a reference to the Belgian

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

artist René Magritte's painting ''

The Treachery of Images ''The Treachery of Images'' (french: La Trahison des Images, link=no) is a 1929 painting by Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte. It is also known as ''This Is Not a Pipe'' and ''The Wind and the Song''. Magritte painted it when he was 30 ye ...

''. Another street was named for the Belgian

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter

Anna Boch Anna Rosalie Boch (10 February 1848 – 25 February 1936) was a Belgian painter, born in Saint-Vaast, Hainaut. Anna Boch died in Ixelles in 1936 and is interred there in the Ixelles Cemetery, Brussels, Belgium. Artistic style Boch partici ...

. The late Belgian filmmaker

Chantal Akerman Chantal Anne Akerman (; 6 June 19505 October 2015) was a Belgian film director, screenwriter, artist, and Film studies, film professor at the City College of New York. She is best known for films such as ''Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 108 ...

, known for the cult classic ''

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles ''Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles'' (, "Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels") is a 1975 drama film written and directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman. It was filmed over five weeks on location in Brussels, ...

'', and Belgium's first female doctor,

Isala Van Diest Isala Van Diest (7 May 1842 - 9 February 1916) was the first female medical doctor and the first female university graduate in Belgium. Early life and education Anne Catherine Albertine Isala Van Diest was born in Louvain, Belgium, 7 May 184 ...

, each had a street named in their honour. Also in 2018, an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

was erected in the Tour & Taxis park to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...

. The obelisk was commissioned by former Brussels Minister of the Environment and Energy, , and designed by architect Bas Smelts. PermaFungi, a

circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims ...

project that sells

oyster mushrooms ''Pleurotus'' is a genus of gilled mushrooms which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, '' P. ostreatus''. Species of ''Pleurotus'' may be called oyster, abalone, or tree mushrooms, and are some of the most commonly cultivated edib ...

at local businesses in Brussels, grows its mushrooms in the basement of the Royal Depot from used coffee grounds collected from Le Pain Quotidien. The non-profit organisation Parckfarm T&T operates on the grounds of the Tour & Taxis park. The volunteer-run "edible park" focuses on environmental and social projects, and offers classes on

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...

, and

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...

. Early in 2020, the new production site and taproom of the

Brasserie de la Senne Brasserie de la Senne is a brewery in Brussels, Belgium, named for the river Senne which flows through the city. History ''De La Senne'' is the initiative of Bernard Leboucq and Yvan De Baets. Leboucq set up the St. Peter's Brewery in the former ...

opened its doors at Tour & Taxis, on the /. The new

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

is directly across from the Royal Depot. It was located in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean before moving to its present site. The brewery is well known for many of its award-winning

ale Ale is a Type of beer, type of beer brewed using a Warm fermentation, warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typicall ...

s and

stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...

References

Footnotes

Notes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tour and Taxis Neighbourhoods of Brussels Buildings and structures in Brussels Parks in Brussels City of Brussels Culture in Brussels Thurn und Taxis