Molenbeek-saint-jean

(French), Flemish  Sint-Jans-Molenbeek  commune, Brabant province, central Belgium. A residential and industrial suburb west of Brussels, it is one of the communes that make up Greater Brussels. It originated as a distinct village on a slope overlooking a brook (molenbeek, “mill stream”). Molenbeek Ridge was the site from which Louis XIV's forces bombarded Brussels in 1695. Today Molenbeek-Saint-Jean is a highly urbanized