The 17th “Winter Wonders” festival will take place in the heart of Brussels, from November 24th to December 31st. It will also spread its winter wings to other locations in the Brussels region. This year, amongst the novelty aspects, we find so called “winter pop-ups”. These are temporary Christmas villages, some placed in Neder-Over-Heembeek and some in Laeken. The grand Christmas fir tree, which will sit enthroned on the Grand-Place from November 16th this year, comes from the forests of Eupen in the Ardennes. Philippe Close, the Mayor of the capital, announced this on Tuesday.
The city will be more lit up than ever before, with 92 adorned thoroughfares, or 30 more than last year. The route will be a total length of 11 kilometres through the city, and this year will also include the Rue de Flandre and even the Avenue de Stalingrad. Besides its fir tree from the Eupen forests, with a height of 22 metres, the Grand-Place will also this year have a sound and light show, broadcast as a 360° panorama.
This winter, Mongolia will be honoured, as will the capital of Albania - Tirana. In particular there will be the opportunity for visitors to the festival to discover the musical culture of the Balkan countries. In this 17th “Winter Wonders” festival, the Brussels City Council government is expecting more than a million and a half visitors. Of these 35% are expected to come from abroad.
The Brussels Times
