The (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, ) or (

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

, ), meaning "New Street", is a

pedestrian street Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

in central

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. It runs between the Place de la Monnaie/Muntplein and the / to the south and the Place Charles Rogier/Karel Rogierplein and the Boulevard du Jardin botanique/Kruidtuinlaan to the north. The Rue Neuve and its close surroundings are the second most popular shopping area in Belgium by number of shoppers, after

Meir Meir () is a Jewish male given name and an occasional surname. It means "one who shines". It is often Germanized as Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer, Meijer, Italianized as Miagro, or Anglicized as Mayer, Meyer, or Myer. Alfred J. Kolatch, ''T ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. It is served by the

metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

and '' premetro'' (underground tram) stations De Brouckère (on lines 1, 4, 5 and 10) and Rogier (on lines 2, 4, 6 and 10).

History

The street used to be called the / ("Our Lady's Street"), after the

Church of Our Lady of Finisterrae The Church of Our Lady of Finisterrae (; ) is a Catholic church in central Brussels, Belgium. It is dedicated to Our Lady of Finisterrae. The current church, which combines Brabantine Baroque and neoclassical styles, was built at the beginni ...

, which now stands in the middle of the retail district. It has been a centre of commercial activity since at least the end of the 19th century, and was known as a centre of luxury shopping in the early 20th century. The street was pedestrianised in 1975. Brussel Nieuwstraat

Nowadays, the Rue Neuve has the second highest rents of any street in Belgium, at €1,600/square metre/year (the

shopping street in Antwerp ranks first, with €1,700/square metre/year). However, it has been criticised by some for being too "boring" architecturally, uniformly "mass market", lacking in independent retailers, without variety of uses, and with very few residents. The

City of Brussels The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...

has plans to bring more residents to the street and to make it more "attractive".

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Rue Neuve/Nieuwstraat, Brussels Neuve City of Brussels 19th century in Brussels Shopping districts and streets in Belgium Pedestrian malls in Belgium Pedestrian streets in Belgium

History

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links