Early history According to local legend, Saint
Gaugericus of
Cambrai built a
chapel on the island around the year 580; hence the name
Brussels, which derives from the
Old Dutch , or , meaning "marsh" ( / ) and "home" or "settlement" ( / / ) or "settlement in the marsh". Starting in the 10th century, the church began to house the
relics of the
martyr Saint
Gudula, who had died two centuries earlier, transferred there from
Moorsel (located in today's province of
East Flanders) by
Duke Charles of Lower Lorraine. In 1047, these relics were transferred again by
Count Lambert II of Leuven to the church that would later become the
Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. When
Holy Roman Emperor Otto II appointed the same Charles to become Duke of
Lower Lotharingia in 977, Charles constructed a fort on the island. Past the island, navigation on the Senne was much more difficult, so it was a good strategic position. It had to defend not only the area, but also the western frontier of the
Holy Roman Empire (to which the
Duchy of Brabant, and thus also Brussels, belonged) against attacks by the
French kings and their powerful vassals, the
Counts of Flanders. By the 12th century, the island was home to a high density of
watermills, playing an important role in Brussels' growth as a commercial centre. During the Middle Ages, the island also housed a large number of
fishmongers, who would use the surrounding river to exchange the water in their fish reservoirs. Fish were extremely important in the
Roman Catholic city, as
fasts prescribed by the church were rigorously obeyed. This ceased to be common practice even before the
Industrial Revolution, as a growing number of
tanners,
dyers and other trades dumped their waste into the river, causing it to be unsuitable for storing fish. Between 1798 and 1801, under the
French regime, the
Gothic Church of St. Gaugericus (which had replaced the chapel) was razed, and in 1802, a
obelisk-shaped fountain from
Grimbergen Abbey, dating from 1767, was placed on the new public square that replaced it. The square was an open-air market for the following century. File:SintGoriksBrussel.jpg|The Church of St. Gaugericus in the 18th century (demolished 1798–1802) File:Caricature représentant l’actuelle place Saint-Géry, lors de l’inondation de janvier 1820, reproduction d’un dessin, Collection iconographique (ref. K-573), Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles.jpg|Cartoon showing the / during the flood of January 1820 File:Borgwal 1867.jpg|Saint-Géry Island in 1867, before the
covering of the Senne 19th century–present Around 1870, when the
Senne was covered over, the island ceased to exist as an island and some of its eastern sections were demolished to make way for the modern
bourgeois housing on the newly constructed
Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan (then called the /). Plans were made to create a covered market to replace the open-air one. The building, known as the
Halles Saint-Géry (), was commissioned in 1880 and construction began in 1881. Designed by the architect in
neo-Flemish Renaissance style, it was completed in 1882. The building's metallic structure is an outstanding example of hall design, combining
historicist elements with
iron and glass construction. The interior, which still includes the old fountain-obelisk, has four rows of double
blue stone stalls and counters. The Halles Saint-Géry prospered until after the
Second World War, then, abandoned by traders, it was finally closed in 1977. Despite the building's designation in 1987 and several attempts at commercial or cultural reassignment, it took more than twenty years for the halls to benefit from a definitive rehabilitation as an exhibition space. Nowadays, the Saint-Géry area is well known for the many bars, cafés and restaurants in the vicinity, making it a popular nightspot in the capital. File:Saint Géry vers 1881.jpg|Construction of the
Halles Saint-Géry/Sint-Gorikshallen, File:Goriksmarkt.jpg|The Halles Saint-Géry as it appears today File:Halles St-Géry 1101.jpg|Interior of the Halles Saint-Géry ==See also==