Saint-Géry Island

Saint-Géry Island's easternmost edge was located more or less due west across today's Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan from the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein and the former Brussels Stock Exchange building.

[6] It had to defend not only the area, but also the western frontier of the Holy Roman Empire (to which the Duchy of Brabant, and thus also Brussels, belonged) against attacks by the French kings and their powerful vassals, the Counts of Flanders.

Due to the island's importance, the iris has been a symbol of Brussels since the 19th century, and a stylised version is featured on the flag of the Brussels-Capital Region.

[7] By the 12th century, the island was home to a high density of watermills, playing an important role in Brussels' growth as a commercial centre.

This ceased to be common practice even before the Industrial Revolution, as a growing number of tanners, dyers and other trades dumped their waste into the river, causing it to be unsuitable for storing fish.

Despite the building's designation in 1987 and several attempts at commercial or cultural reassignment, it took more than twenty years for the halls to benefit from a definitive rehabilitation as an exhibition space.