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Brussels - See & Do
Guide to Sightseeing in Brussels
With its centrepiece being
the fine medieval Grand'Place, Brussels has all the refinement and
gravitas that befits the modern day capital of European politics.
The Brussels 3-Day Tourist Pass, available at tourist offices and
stations, gives discounts on museums, attractions and guided tours,
and also covers free public transportation. The pass costs EUR30
however, so you need to see a lot of attractions to get your money's
worth.
Grand'Place
The historic heart of Brussels, The Grand'Place is indisputably one
of Europe's finest city squares. The whole of Brussels - tourists
and locals alike - tend to converge on the square, making it the
focal point for the city's activities and a bustling place around
the clock. Upon entering the square, you can't fail to be impressed
by the elegant guild houses that surround it, most of them dating
from the 18th century and built in traditional Flemish style. Wander
around, and you'll notice a whole array of statuary, coats of arms
and stone carvings decorating the ornate façades of the buildings.
The centrepiece of the place is the medieval town hall, the only
building that predates King Louis XIV's bombardment of Brussels city
centre in 1695, when almost everything else was levelled. Its
survival is ironic as it was the one building the Sun King
particularly wanted destroyed. An extraordinary Gothic masterpiece,
the hôtel de ville has a peculiar quirk in that the tower and the
main archway are not aligned - a fact that caused the architect to
commit suicide from the main tower through shame.
Despite its impressive history, for most visitors, this is first and
foremost a place for entertainment and there's certainly no shortage
of venues for eating and drinking, from bars offering a whole host
of Belgian beers to restaurants serving moules frites, to cafés
where you can sit outside and watch the world go by. There's also
often a market in the centre of the Grand'Place, usually selling
flowers.
Breweries
As one of the world's leading beer producers, Belgium is home to
around 130 breweries and 400-plus beers, and there are few visitors
to Brussels who would want to miss out on trying some of the
country's produce during their stay. Of course there are any number
of bars dotted around the city where you can do just that and many
offer a pretty extensive choice of different varieties. If you're
interested in finding out about how the unique beers are brewed,
however, it's well worth going on a brewery tour, most of which,
naturally, provide samples of their produce for visitors to try.
One of the best places to see traditional brewing in action is the
family-run Cantillon brewery, just on the outskirts of the city
centre. In operation since 1900, the small brewery still follows
age-old methods of spontaneous fermentation to create the special
organic Gueuze-Lambic, a delicious bitter beer often flavoured with
fresh cherries, grapes or raspberries. Visitors go on a self-guided
tour around the brewery, and are then invited to taste the produce
by the friendly proprietors, who are willing to answer any
beer-related questions.
Cantillon Brasserie. Rue Gheude 56.
Open: Mon-Fri 08h30-17h00; Sat 10h00-17h00.
Admission: EUR3.50 (includes one glass of beer).
Tel: +32 (0)2-521-4928.
If you don't have time to get out to the Cantillon brewery, the
headquarters and museum of the Belgian Brewers' Museum on the
Grand'Place will give you the low-down on your chosen tipple and the
brewing process - as well as giving you a practical lesson in beer
tasting. Try a cherry kriek or a sweet faro before progressing to a
blanche wheat beer or a heavy trappiste brew such as Chimay or Orval.
La Maison des Brasseurs.
Grand'Place 10.
Open: daily 10h00-17h00.
Admission: EUR4.
Tel: +32 (0)2-511-4987.
The Royal
Museums of Fine Arts
Brussels has an excellent array of painting and sculpture in the
four collections that make up the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the
two most important of which are the Museums of Ancient Art and
Modern Art.
The former houses an impressive collection of predominantly Flemish
Masters including Rubens, Bosch, Van Dyck and, most notably, Pieter
Bruegel the Elder. The museum's pride "Landscape with the Fall of
Icarus" displays, like many of Bruegel's paintings, the artist's
familiar sense of humour combined with cryptic messages, making it
very accessible. There are also several works by his son, Pieter
Brueghel the Younger (who didn't have his father's habit of dropping
his "h"s) and some fascinating depictions of life among the
16th-century Belgian peasantry.
Next door in the Museum of Modern Art, surrealist works by Magritte
mingle with others by Delvaux, Wouters and the macabre James Ensor.
With its oldest works dating from the late 19th century, the
collection comprehensively spans all the major epochs of the last
hundred years or so - right up to the present day. Fans of René
Magritte should also visit the museum in the house where he once
lived at Rue Esseghem 135.
Museum of Ancient Art: Rue de la Regence 3. Museum of Modern Art:
Place Royale.
Open: Tue-Sun 10h00-17h00.
Admission: EUR5, adults; EUR3.50, children.
Tel: +32 (0)2-508-3211.
The Atomium
Immediately recognisable from countless postcards, the Atomium is
one of the 20th century's most celebrated tourist attractions. Built
in 1958 for Brussels's World Fair, it celebrates humanity's mastery
of the molecules that make up our world. At 102m in height, it is
some 165 billion times the size of the atomic lattice of iron
crystals that it represents.
Inside the structure, you will find exhibitions, discovery centres
and one of the world's fastest elevators. The main exhibitions
rotate every 12 months or so but mostly concentrate on the 1958
World Fair and the thinking behind this remarkable structure. There
are also occasional displays of modern art or technology as befits
the building's status as one of the most audacious works of
architecture of the last century.
Boulevard du Centenaire.
Open: daily 09h00-20h00 (Apr-Aug); 10h00-18h00 (Sep-Mar).
Admission: EUR9, adults; EUR6, children.
Tel: +32 (0)2-474-8977.
The
Manneken-Pis Fountain
As with any true city symbol, the Manneken-Pis - better known as the
"Brussels Boy" fountain - divides opinion.
Many locals feel it inappropriate that the sight of a bronze child
passing water into a bowl should be the most enduring image of a
visit to a city with such a rich cultural and political heritage.
Others insist that this humorous and irreverent work is the perfect
representation of a relaxed and progressive people. Either way, your
visit won't be complete without a quick peek.
The fountain can be found on the corner of Rue de l'Etuve and
Stoofstraat. The statue is often clothed in outfits that are changed
monthly or so; a collection of the little fellow's previous apparel
is housed at the nearby City of Brussels Museum.
City Of Brussels Museum
Situated in the stately King's House on the Grand'Place, the City of
Brussels Museum traces the development of the city from its days as
a centre of excellence for tapestry to its current position of power
at the heart of the European Union.
Permanent exhibitions include Brussels's finest china and wall
tapestrywork while the collection of art includes several works by
Belgium's most famous artists since medieval times. Pride of place
is given to one of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's most famous paintings,
the Peasant Wedding, which hangs alongside canvases from Rubens and
other luminaries. This is also where you can see more than 600
costumes given by various dignitaries and designers to dress the
Manneken-Pis fountain boy, but don't let that put you off - there's
lots more interesting stuff besides.
Grote Markt/Grand'Place.
Open: Tue-Sun 10h00-17h00.
Admission: EUR3.
Tel: +32 (0)2-279-4350.
Art Nouveau
Architecture
In the rush to get to all the beer and chocolate, many visitors
overlook the fact that Brussels is home to an abundance of beautiful
Art Nouveau buildings. Even if you're not a particular architecture
fan, exploring some of the city's back streets to seek out some of
these ornate buildings is an enjoyable way of spending an afternoon
- and a good way of seeing some residential neighbourhoods that you
might not otherwise have discovered.
The best place to start your architectural tour is the area around
Square Ambiorix and Square Marie-Louise. Just off the latter, the
tiny Square Gutenberg has a couple of houses with ornate Art Nouveau
façades; continue through pretty Square Marie Louise and you'll come
to Avenue Palmerston and the Victor Horta-designed House of Van
Eetvelde (at number 4). Just south of the Parc du Cinquantenaire,
the beautiful Cauchie House at Rue des Francs 5 was built by the
architect for himself in 1905 and features a stunning façade. The
house is open to the public over the first weekend of every month,
11h00-13h00 & 14h00-18h00.
Admission: EUR4.
You can find out more about one of Belgium's most influential
architects of the late 19th/early 20th century at the Horta Museum,
Victor Horta's former house and neighbouring studio. Both are
decorated in mosaics and stained glass and provide a fascinating
insight into the life and work of the designer.
Rue Americaine 25.
Open: Tue-Sun 14h00-17h30.
Admission: EUR5.
Tel: +32 (0)2-543-0490.
There are a number of prominent Art Nouveau buildings elsewhere,
several of which have been turned into museums, such as the Musical
Instruments Museum (Rue Montagne de la Cour 2) or the Belgian Centre
for Comic Strip Art (Rue des Sables 20), a former warehouse built by
Victor Horta. If you want to dine or drink in elegant Art Deco-style
surroundings, try Brasserie La Rotonde on the corner of Rue de
l'Enseignement and Croix de Fer, or Restaurant La Vierge Noire at
Rue de la Vierge Noire 12.
Musical Instruments Museum
First founded in 1877 on the basis of two personal collections of
instruments being donated to the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory
the Musical Instruments Museum is one of the city's oldest - and
oddest - attractions. In 1999, this 100-year-old collection found a
permanent home in the glorious Art Nouveau surroundings of the
former "Old England" department store.
Covering four floors and housing 1,500 individual instruments, this
is a delight for the musically minded. Visitors can listen to 200
recordings, from music of the ancient Greeks onward and study how
familiar instruments produce sound in the basement's interactive
sound lab. Most fascinating though are the oddities, the unusual
instruments brought back from further afield. The museum's
collection ranges to every corner of the globe, beginning with one
of the original donations to the museum - the Rajah Sourindro Mohun
Tagore's private collection of over 100 Indian instruments.
Rue Montagne de la Cour 2.
Open: Tue-Fri 09h30-17h00; Sat/Sun 10h00-17h00.
Admission: EUR5, adults; EUR3.50, children.
Tel: +32 (0)2-545-0130.
The European
Parliament
Depending on your viewpoint, this is either where progressive
federal policies are implemented, or where power-crazy Eurocrats
pass ridiculous laws concerning average banana girth. Either way,
you might be curious to see such decisions being made, and visits to
the seat of the European Parliament are possible, complete with
audioguides. The guided visit takes you to the debating chamber,
where you can sit in the visitors' gallery - sometimes when sittings
are in progress - and explains in some depth the workings of the
parliament (which employs some 4,500 permanent staff) and how laws
are passed.
It has to be said that this is a pretty dry attraction, however, and
may not be of great interest unless you are a dedicated Europhile.
The surrounding area is quite interesting, however, purely because
it is different to the rest of the city: an ultra-modern, somewhat
clinical jungle of glass buildings, broken up by the very welcome
Park Leopold, immediately behind the parliament. The park is a
pleasant place for a walk, populated by a curious mix of
parliamentarians of various nationalities, local school children and
students (there is a school and a dental institute here).
Rue Wiertz 43.
Open for 30-minute audioguide visits: Mon-Thu at 10h00 and
15h00; Fri at 10h00.
Admission is free; under-14s not admitted.
The Belgian Centre for Comic
Strip Art
Admirers of Hergé's Tintin can't fail to appreciate Belgium's
contribution to the comic strip. Tying in with the country's love of
idiosyncratic humour, the comic strip boomed after World War Two and
has now been elevated to the status of "the ninth art". The Belgian
Centre for Comic Strip Art celebrates this national obsession
through a series of exhibitions following the history of la bande
dessinée and its most important creators, along with step-by-step
illustrations of how comics are produced. This is undoubtedly a
must-see for die-hard comic fans, but it's worth bearing in mind
that the museum's main aim is evidently to educate rather than to
entertain, so some of the exhibits may not be as scintillating for
children - or less fanatical adults - as you might expect. The
building itself, nonetheless, is a masterpiece of Art Nouveau
design, and worth seeing in its own right.
If you'd rather see cartoons in the open air, you simply need to
look around you: many characters will crop up on your stroll around
the city, painted on walls, in bars and on street corners. There's a
good selection of them around the Place Fontainas and Marché au
Charbon, a few streets away from the Grand'Place.
Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée. Rue des Sables 20.
Open: Tue-Sun 10h00-18h00.
Admission: EUR6.20, adults; EUR2.50, children.
Tel: +32 (0)2-219-1980.
Cathedral of
St Michel and St Gudula
Though not as breathtaking as some more famous city churches,
Brussels Cathedral is nonetheless a handsome Gothic building, its
elegant white arches and pillars giving way to some beautiful
stained glass windows. One of the most attractive corners of the
cathedral is the baroque Maes chapel, adorned with a marble and
alabaster altarpiece featuring the Passion of Christ. Construction
commenced on the cathedral in the 13th century, and it took 300
years to complete. In the bowels of the building, archaeological
excavations have unearthed the remains of an earlier Romanesque
church dating from 1047, along with tombs from the 17th and 18th
centuries.
Parvis Sainte-Gudule.
Open: Mon-Fri 08h00-18h00; Sat/Sun 08h30-18h00.
Admission to cathedral: free.
Admission to treasury or Romanesque ruins: EUR1. Tel: +32
(0)2-217-8345.
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