Kingdom of Burgundy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Tour & Taxis (is a large formerly industrial site in Brussels, Belgium.
The site is composed of large warehouses and offices surrounding a former train station and its spacious central hall. The buildings on the site are made of brick, glass and wrought iron, examples of the quality of 19th-century architecture. Though it was long disused following its loss of importance as a shipping and customs hub, the site has now been partially restored, and is now used for large cultural events, including Couleur Café and the Brussels Design Market, as well as office space. It is situated on the Brussels Canal in the City of Brussels municipality, immediately adjacent to Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, just northwest of the city centre and about a kilometre west of the Northern Quarter financial district.
History
Over the long history of the swampy lands that originally constituted the site, certain parcels belonged to the Thurn und Taxis (or Tassis), a German noble family. Philip the Fair of Burgundy promoted Frans Von Tassis to postmaster. Francisco had moved the family to Brussels by 1516, and they organized the first international postal service out of Brussels. The imperial postal service linked the wealthy Low Countries to the Spanish court, and served the Holy Roman Empire and the rest of Europe. The horse-based postal service would be based in Brussels for nearly two centuries before moving to Frankfurt in 1704.
The fields in were used as for pasture for the family's horses. The family gave their name to a small road that crossed through the area. This was rendered into French as Tour et Taxis, and would give its name to the area after its transition into a busy port.
