Ixelles

Ixelles (French, iksɛl) or Elsene (Dutch, ˈɛlsənə) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the municipalities of Auderghem, Etterbeek, Forest, Uccle, Saint-Gilles and Watermael-Boitsfort. the municipality had a population of 87,052 inhabitants. The total area is , which gives a population density of . In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). It is generally considered an affluent area of the region, and is particularly noted for its communities of European and Congolese immigrants. Ixelles is located in the south-east of Brussels and is divided into two parts by the Avenue Louise/Louizalaan, which is part of the City of Brussels. The municipality's smaller western part includes the Rue du Bailli/Baljuwstraat and extends roughly from the Avenue Louise to the Avenue Brugmann/Brugmannlaan, whilst its larger eastern part includes campuses of Brussels' two leading universities; the French-speaking Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), along with the Place Eugène Flagey. The Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos is located just south of Ixelles. The construction of the Avenue Louise was commissioned in 1847 as a monumental avenue bordered by chestnut trees that would allow easy access from Brussels' city centre to the popular recreational area of the Bois de la Cambre. It was also to be the first Haussmann-esque artery of the city. Originally, fierce resistance to the project was put up by the town of Ixelles—then, as now, a separate municipality (local authority) from the City of Brussels—through whose territory the avenue was to run. After years of fruitless negotiations, Brussels finally annexed the narrow band of land needed for the avenue, in addition to the Bois de la Cambre itself, in 1864. That decision accounts for the unusual shape of today's City of Brussels and for the separation of Ixelles into two separate areas.