Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (French, ) or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (Dutch, ), often simply called Saint-Josse in French or Sint-Joost in Dutch, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels and Schaerbeek. , the municipality had a total population of 26,965. The total area is 1.16 km2, which gives a population density of 23234 PD/km2. From a total of 581 municipalities in Belgium, Saint-Josse is both the smallest in area size and the most densely populated. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch).

History

Named after Saint Judoc, Saint-Josse was originally a farming village on the outskirts of Brussels. In the centuries before the dismantling of the ramparts encircling Brussels, Saint-Josse was also the place where noblemen built country estates, the most notable amongst them the Castle of the Dukes of Brabant built by Philip the Good in 1456. The area surrounding that castle was planted with wine groves, which explains the presence of the bushel of grapes in the municipality's coat of arms. After the demolition of the ramparts, Saint-Josse was one of the first areas outside Brussels to urbanise. The rich built houses around the new boulevards and higher parts of the municipality, while industries and workman's cottages were built in the lower lying part close to the river Senne. In 1855, 58% of the land area of Saint-Joose was annexed by the municipality of the City of Brussels to make way for the Square Ambiorix/Ambiorixsquare, the Square Marguerite/Margaretasquare, the Square Marie-Louise/Maria-Louizasquare and the Avenue Palmerston/Palmerstonlaan of the newly created Leopold Quarter (now the European Quarter). According to an inventory of architecture commissioned by the Brussels Region, Saint-Josse has on average the oldest buildings of all 19 Brussels municipalities.

Demographics

While foreigners were a majority in 1995, in 2007 most of the population had Belgian citizenship, which has resulted in a sharp increase of municipal councillors with a foreign background, benefitting from the open proportional electoral system: from none in 1988 to two (from Morocco) in 1994, a near majority of 13 (seven from Morocco, five from Turkey) out of 27 in 2000 (including three aldermen) and a majority of 20 out of 27 in 2007 (including six aldermen out of seven, the seventh is a member of the Flemish minority ).

Politics

Mayors

Historical list of mayors or burgomasters of Saint-Josse:

Culture