Marollen

Marollen
Neighbourhood
View of Brussels' Marolles/Marollen with the Chapel Church from the Palace of Justice
View of Brussels' Marolles/Marollen with the Chapel Church from the Palace of Justice
Marollen is located in Brussels
Marollen
Marollen
Location within Brussels
Marollen is located in Belgium
Marollen
Marollen
Marollen (Belgium)
Coordinates: 50°50′13″N 4°20′46″E / 50.83694°N 4.34611°E / 50.83694; 4.34611
Country Belgium
RegionBrussels-Capital Region
MunicipalityCity of Brussels
WebsiteOfficial website

The Marolles (French, pronounced [maʁɔl] ) or Marollen (Dutch, pronounced [maːˈrɔlə(n)]) is a popular historic neighbourhood of downtown Brussels, Belgium. It is situated between the Palace of Justice to its south-east, the Chapel Church to its north and the Halle Gate to its south.[1] Its inhabitants are called Marolliens in French and Marollianen in Dutch.

Lying at the heart of Marolles are the Place du Jeu de Balle/Vossenplein, home to the Old Market, and the Cité Hellemans collective housing complex. Major arteries of the district include the Rue Haute/Hoogstraat, the Rue Blaes/Blaesstraat and the Rue des Tanneurs/Huidevetterstraat. This area is served by Brussels-Chapel railway station and Brussels-South railway station, as well as by the metro and premetro (underground tram) station Porte de Hal/Hallepoort on lines 2, 3, 4 and 6.

The traditional Brabantian dialect of Brussels (known as Brusselian, and also sometimes referred to as Marols or Marollien) was widely spoken in the Marolles until the 20th century.[2] It still survives among a small minority of inhabitants called Brusseleers[2] (or Brusseleirs), many of them quite bi- and multilingual in French and Dutch.[3][4]

  1. ^ Marollen in Brussel
  2. ^ a b Evans 2008, p. 71.
  3. ^ Johan Winkler (1874). "De stad Brussel". Algemeen Nederduitsch en Friesch Dialecticon (in Dutch). Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren. pp. 264–272. Archived from the original on 7 January 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
  4. ^ Treffers-Daller 1994.