Honouring Magritte

Ceci n’est pas une rue.
Brussels honours artist René Magritte with a new street name.

Brussels has a found a new way to honour Belgian artist, René Magritte... 

"If you could name a street in your hometown, what would you choose? Belgian citizens had the opportunity to mull just that question as part of an initiative to name 28 streets, squares, and walkways in the Belgian capital’s Tour & Taxis district*. The city crowdsourced the names as part of an ongoing regeneration project in the Tour & Taxis district—a formerly industrial area now set to become one of the city’s cultural and residential meccas. After receiving nearly 1,400 suggestions from the public, the final list was chosen by a jury of city officials, historians, and the site’s property developer, Extena...""[read more on Quartz].

*The district is named after the famous Thurn and Taxis, a German noble family that was a key player in European postal services until the fall of the Holy Roman Empire.

Street name signs in Brussels are in Flemish and French.
There have been more going up lately.

"Once a railway station and inland port, the district was a maze of warehouses, customs buildings and post and telegraph offices. By the early 1990s the area had fallen on hard times: lorry transport had rendered rail freight lines obsolete, while the introduction of a European customs union and harmonisation of standards drastically reduced incoming goods..." [read more on The Guardian].

"Did you know that the site once served as the largest freight station of Europe? The historic buildings were years ahead of the rest of Europe. The architects and engineers combined beautiful Belgian architecture with the most innovative technologies of the time. The result? Buildings that still have all modern facilities with an attractive, historic flavour..."read more on the official website].

"The eclectic mix of new names chosen by Brussels residents range from Passage de la Kriek, named after a famous Belgian cherry beer, to Ceci n’est pas une rue (This is not a street), inspired by the art of Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. “To give a street a name, it gives it a certain identity,” Kris Verhellen, CEO of the Extensa development group which owns the former transport hub in the north of the city..." [read more on Reuters].



The new Brussels street names - and what they mean

  • Allée des Douanes: Customs Alley
  • Ceci n’est pas une rue: This is not a street (honouring Belgian artist René Magritte)
  • Chemin du Bonheur: Path to Happiness
  • Chemin d’Un Monde Meilleur: Path to a Better World
  • Drève des Rêves: Drive of Dreams
  • Drève du Parc: Park Drive
  • Drève Maritime: Maritime Drive
  • Drève von Thurn und Tassis: Tour and Taxis Drive
  • Mer des Pavés: Sea of Cobblestones
  • Passage de la Caricole: Passage of the Caricole
  • Passage de la Frite: Passage of the fries
  • Passage de la Praline: Passage of the Praline
  • Passage de la Kriek: Passage of the Kriek (Belgian beer)
  • Passage du Chicon: Passage of Chicon (a Belgian cheese and endive dish)
  • Passage du Cuberdon: Passage of Cuberdon (a Belgian candy)
  • Passage du Speculoos: Passage of the Speculoos (a Belgian spiced cookie)
  • Passage du Stoemp: Passage of the Stoemp (a Belgian vegetable dish)
  • Place de la Musique: Place of Music
  • Place des Choukes: Place of Choukes (a Belgian term of endearment)
  • Place des Grands Hommes Place of Great People
  • Quai des Brumes: Quay of the Mists
  • Rue Chantal Akerman: Chantal Akerman Street (a famous Belgian feminist and avant-garde filmmaker)
  • Rue des Entrepôts: Warehouse Street
  • Rue du Méandre: Meander Street
  • Rue Isala Van Diest: Isala Van Diest Street (Belguim's first female medical doctor)
  • Voie 1: Way 1
  • Voie 2: Way 2


The Brussels city flag
To learn more
Tour & Taxis District - official website
Belgians chose “This is not a street” as one of 28 new Brussels street names - Quartz
Beer, chips and historic women inspire new Brussels street names
New names of the Tour & Taxis streets - Brussels city website
Ceci n’est pas une rue: Brussels to adopt whimsical new street names - The Guardian
Brussels Honors René Magritte & Other Painters With Bizarre Street Names - The Travel

This post was published previously on my citytravelbug blog


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