The Basilica took 65 years to complete, enduring two world wars and multiple interruptions. It is one of the world's largest and most controversial churches.
"Like many people new to Brussels, I expected to stay a few years. But one thing led to another. And now I’ve been living in this unruly, messy city for almost 35 years."
The competition is already heating up, with the five laying out their charms as if for a beauty contest.
The victims were a random group of people. Some locals. Others passing through. A retired Belgian ambassador waiting to board a flight to the United States. A university student on his way to classes. A Swedish illustrator who lived in Brussels.
Almost every memorial stone in Brussels has the words ‘Détenu Malines’. Held in Mechelen. That was the last stop in Belgium for most of them.
A tiny number of people have seen inside the building.
Victor Horta was one of Art Nouveau’s pioneers and his extraordinary twisting and curving designs still inspire architecture today. But who was he?
By the late 19th century, Leopold was one of the richest people in Europe, ruling his colony from a timbered chalet next to the royal palace, but never setting foot on African soil.
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