Beautiful Brussels

The capital of Belgium, Brussels is an incredible city. It offers visitors a chance to see lots of impressive 17th-century buildings and there are daily flower markets. Looked upon as Brussel’s Eiffel Tower the Atomium which reopened in 2006 offers spectacular views both inside and out. The city also has lots of wonderful green spaces where people can commune with nature and relax.

The Old English Building dates back to 1899 and was once a department store. It is now an Art Nouveau showpiece with a black facade decorated with wrought iron and arched windows. Inside you’ll find a music museum that celebrates music in all of its forms. There is a repository for over 2000 historic instruments. The idea here is to lend your ears as you can hear such sounds as arcane shepherds’ bagpipes, Chinese carillons and harpsichords. Relax at the rooftop cafe and get wonderful views of the city.

Grand Place is Brussels’ central square where you can see the grand Gothic Hotel de Ville which was the only building to escape bombardment by the French in 1695. This pedestrian-only square is surrounded by guild halls adorned with gilded statues. Some of the guild halls now house cafes. 

At Grand Place, you’ll also find Bourse Brussels’ stock exchange dating from 1873 with a neo-Classical stone facade that features sculptures by the young Rodin. 

A block northeast of Grand Place is Europe’s first shopping arcade – Galeries St. Hubert dating from 1847. Here you can see colorful lanes of fish restaurants. 

On Rue Charles Buls, the city’s tourist-orientated shopping street you’ll find chocolate and trinket shops.

Here you’ll also get to see the incredible statue of Charles Buls and his dog. Buls was the Mayor of Brussels for 18 years at the end of the 19th century.

Three blocks from there is the ever-popular Manneken Pis. The famous fountain statue of a little boy cheerfully taking a leak. On anniversaries, the national day or during a local event he is dressed in costumes and has an ever-growing wardrobe that is displayed at the Maison du Roi. 

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts incorporates the Museum of Ancient Arts and the Museum of Modern Art featuring artworks by surrealist Paul Delvaux and fauvist Rik Wouters. In the Museum of Ancient Arts, you’ll see 15th-century Flemish Primitives such as Pieta with its hallucinatory dawn sky by Rogier Van der Weyden, refined portraits by Hans Memling and Madonna with Saints by the Master of the Legend of St. Lucy. Many more artworks to see and delight in. 



Maison Cauchie is an impressive Art-Nouveau building with a 1905 facade that is decorated with stylized female figures. The building was built by Art-Nouveau architect, painter and designer Paul Chauchie. Inside the gallery, you can see Cauchie’s expressionist paintings and read about the building's 1980s salvation. A tour takes visitors into the fantastic graffiti-decorated rooms upstairs.

Way back in 1521 Anderlecht now a municipality was a country village. In a charming brick home world-famous humanist, Erasmus spent five months enjoying country life. The house is now the Erasmus House Museum. It has been furnished with artworks such as several Flemish Primitive paintings and some priceless manuscripts. Behind the house is a lovely “philosophy garden”.

The house is located behind the 16th-century Gothic Church of St. Pierre & St. Guidon. The church contains some original murals. At one time it was a pilgrimage site up until WW II where cart drivers and those suffering fits would come to pray before the reliquary of 10th century St. Guidon who was the multitasked patron saint of cattle, work-horses, sheds and epileptics. The church’s white-stone spire dominates Place de la Vaillance, a cafe-ringed square. There are also some 1920s buildings with pseudo-medieval facades.

Built during the reign of Leopold II Parc du Cinquantenaire is known for its cluster of museums – art, history, military and motor vehicles. Here you can also see the impressive Arcade du Cinquantenaire, a triumphal arch built in 1880 to celebrate 50 years of Belgian independence. In the summertime, there is a popular drive-in cinema here. 

The Royal Museum of Art and History housed in the southern wing of the Cinquantenaire building is full of antiquities from all around the world. You can see many different things such as sarcophagi from Ancient Egypt, Meso-American masks, icons and even wooden bicycles. Some of the highlights here include medieval stone carvings set around a neo-Gothic cloister and soaring Corinthian columns. Since most of the labeling is in French and Dutch it is advisable to get the audio guide in English.

12 km north of downtown Brussels you’ll find the 93-hectare Belgium National Botanic Garden in the village of Meise.

The garden is based around two lakes and includes the Kasteel van Boechout, a castle with a moat that Leopold II gave to his sister, Princess Charlotte when her own burnt down in 1879. 

Brussels has a 25m tall version of Nelson’s Column known as the Colonne du Congres. This monolith dating from the 1850s is topped by a gilded statue of King Leopold I. It commemorates the Belgian constitution of 1831. Around its base are four female figures representing the four constitutionally upheld freedoms of religion, association, education and the press. Between two bronze lions is an eternal flame that honors Belgian victims of the two World Wars.