The Heysel Plateau (, ) or Heysel Park (, ), usually shortened to Heysel () or Heizel (), is a neighbourhood, park and exhibition space in Laeken, northern Brussels, Belgium, where the Brussels International Exposition of 1935 and the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo 58) took place.
The Atomium, a symbolic modernist structure, originally built for Expo 58, is the most impressive monument on the Heysel Plateau and is now considered a landmark of Brussels. Opposite it, the Centenary Palace is one of the lasting remaining buildings of the 1935 World's Fair. It was also the venue for the 32nd Eurovision Song Contest in 1987. Currently, it is home to the Brussels Exhibition Centre (Brussels Expo), the city's most important event complex in Belgium and the largest exhibition space in the Benelux.
The Heysel Plateau was also the location of the Heysel Stadium, Belgium's former national stadium, originally built in 1930. After the Heysel Stadium disaster of 1985, which claimed the lives of 39 spectators at the European Cup final, it was demolished and in its place was built the more modern and secure King Baudouin Stadium. The Bruparck entertainment park (with among others Mini-Europe miniature park and Kinepolis cinema) and the Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium are also located there, as is the Palais 12/Paleis 12, a large and modern multiuse indoor arena with a maximum capacity of 15,000 people.
This site is served by Heysel/Heizel metro station on line 6 of the Brussels Metro.
Toponymy
The name Heysel derives from the Dutch word , meaning "meager pasture" or "hill". There is also evidence of a brook in the Middle Ages, the Heyselbeek, a tributary of the Molenbeek brook, formed from several sources on the heights of Osseghem. Heyssel is retained as a toponym on the Huvenne map of 1848 and in the Geographical Dictionary of Letter Posts of the Kingdom of Belgium of 1857.
The terms Heysel in French and Heizel in Dutch have in fact gradually imposed themselves to fairly broadly designate this district of Laeken, to the detriment of two other toponyms which designate more precise parts of it: Hossegem Dries to the north-west, at the current location of Osseghem Park, and Kauwenberg to the south-east, around the Chapel of St. Anna.
History
Rural beginnings
The Osseghem estate on the Heysel Plateau was first mentioned in the Early Middle Ages and may have been on the site of a former Roman villa. In 1152, a sale of the Hof van Ossegem by the heirs of Meinard van Brussel to Affligem Abbey is documented, which also included the old Church of Our Lady of Laeken. This church, whose origins date back to the 8th century, was located nearby, as was the Chapel of St. Anna with its miraculous spring, which attracted many pilgrims.
During the Ancien Régime, the Heysel Plateau was still largely owned by the Affligem fathers, and the area belonged to the parish of Laeken. At the height of the plateau were two other hamlets: Vleurgat (or Verregat) and Osseghem. The latter was found just south of today's King Baudouin Stadium and gave its name to today's Osseghem Park, while Vleurgat was further north, near the /, where the Vleurgat residential area is today.
In the 16th century, the Coensborgh Castle occupied an island on a pond formed by the Molenbeek. It was the property of the Meeûs family in the 17th century. In the 18th century, the beauty of the landscape motivated the construction of the Stuyvenberg Castle in 1725, the Palace of Schonenberg (today's Royal Palace of Laeken) between 1782 and 1784, and the Belvédère Castle in 1788. The Ferraris map of 1777 does not show these first two castles but indicates the Osseghem farm, located a little south of the current King Baudouin Stadium. The Osseghem farm grew into a small village, which, in the 18th century, also included a Speelhuys; a pavilion where the Archbishop of Mechelen stayed when visiting Brussels.
Numerous quarries were also operated on the Heysel Plateau, which supplied the building material for, among other things, the Abbey Church of Affligem, the Church of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel, the Jesuit Church in Antwerp and the Church of Our Lady of Finistère in central Brussels. Quarrying ceased towards the end of the 17th century, though traces can still be seen on the slopes to the east, in the Kattenberg and the depressions in Osseghem Park.