Sightseeing car and walking tour of Brussels

You will find an interesting, walking and car tour of the capital of the Kingdom of Belgium.

You can see the main attractions of this charming city:

The Royal Galleries is one of the iconic landmarks of the Ilo-Sacre quarter, a symbol of Brussels’ economic growth, built long before the appearance of major shopping and entertainment complexes. The galleries of St. Hubert occupy the space of St. Hubert Street; the building stands across the Butcher Street and divides it roughly in half. The construction of such a structure in this place of the city was necessary: in the 19th century, many streets were constantly cluttered with transport and crowded with pedestrians to the Central Square. The width of these streets was not enough to accommodate the sidewalk. The architect Jean-Pierre Kleisenard proposed to expand one of the narrow streets with the help of covered galleries. In 1837, Kleisenard presented the project to the king, followed by ten long years of struggle to realize it. In May 1846, when construction work was in full swing, Leopold I laid a symbolic first stone in the foundation of the new building. Kleisenard is so inspired by his idea that the galleries can be built in just one year, and in 1847, a month ahead of schedule, the "Umbrella Brussels" is ready to receive its many visitors. Not only the dimensions of the building (8 meters wide, 213 in length and 18 in height) are impressive, but also the technical side of the project: for the first time in Brussels, a large amount of metal and glass were combined during the construction of the building, which allowed Kleisenar to achieve the necessary effect of a large space.

Manneken Pis is the symbol of Brussels. The exact time and circumstances of the creation of the statue are unknown. According to some reports, the statue existed already in the XV century (possibly from 1388).

There are many legends about Manneken Pis. According to one of them, the statue is installed in a reminder of the events of the Grimbergen War, when the cradle with the son of Gottfried III of Leuven was hung on a tree to inspire the citizens with the view of the future monarch, and the child from there urinated on the soldiers fighting under the tree.

According to another legend, the statue was originally intended to remind the citizens of the boy who with a stream of urine extinguished the ammunition laid out by the enemy under the city walls.

The Grand Place is a historic square in the center of Brussels, one of the most important tourist sites of the city. There are two important sights - the Town Hall and the Bread House (or the King's House). The ensemble of the market square of Brussels is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Royal Palace is located in the center of the capital in Brussels Park and is used by the King mainly as a place for official events. The modern facade in the style of classicism appeared only in the 1900s, the very same building of the palace began to be built at the end of the XVIII century. Before that, this place was Kaudenberg, the castle-residence of the Dukes of Brabant, presumably built at the end of the XI century and destroyed by fire in 1731. The Royal Palace in Brussels, the official residence of the Belgian monarch, the Belgian royal family actually resides in the Laken Palace, located in the Brussels district of Laken.

The Palace of Justice, the state courthouse in Brussels, is the largest judicial chamber in Belgium. The grandiose building was built between 1866 and 1883 by architect Joseph Poulart in the style of eclecticism.

Around the perimeter, the dimensions of the Palace building are 160 meters long and 150 meters wide. His height. including the dome, reaches 142 meters. The inner height of the dome hall is 97.5 meters. The building covers a total area of 52.464 m2. The area of the interior is 26.006 m2 (for comparison: the internal area of St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican is 22.000 m2).

The Palace of Justice has 27 courtrooms, 245 smaller rooms and 8 courtyards. The Belgian Chamber of Cassation is also located here.

The Eiffel Tower, Brussels Atomium, was established in 1958 as the main pavilion of the Expo 58. The design symbolizes the atomic age and scientific and technological progress, is a model of a cubic fragment of a crystalline iron lattice, magnified 165 billion times. The Atomium was designed by engineer Andre Waterkeyn and architects Andre Polak and Jean Polak. After the exhibition, it was planned to dismantle the structure, but Brussels loved this huge atom so much that it was decided to leave the structure in place.

- European Commission building. The European Commission is the heir to one of the key institutions created in the supranational system of the European Community after the declaration of French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950. It was established in 1951 as the European Coal and Steel Community’s supreme governing body.