What to See in Belgium - Top Sights and Attractions

Plaza in the City of Brussels, Belgium. The Grand Place or Grote Markt is the central square of Brussels, Belgium. It is surrounded by opulent Baroque guildhalls of the former Guilds of Brussels and two larger edifices; the city's Flamboyant Town Hall, and the neo-Gothic King's House or Bread House building containing the Brussels City Museum. The square measures 68 by 110 metres and is entirely paved.

The Grand Place's construction began in the 11th century and was largely complete by the 17th. In 1695, during the Nine Years' War, most of the square was destroyed during the bombardment of Brussels by French troops. Only the facade and the tower of the Town Hall, which served as a target for the artillery, and some stone walls resisted the incendiary balls. The houses that surrounded the Grand Place were rebuilt during subsequent years, giving the square its current appearance, though they were frequently modified in the following centuries. From the mid-19th century, the square's heritage value was rediscovered, and it was thoroughly renovated.

Nowadays, the Grand Place is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels. It is also considered one of the world's most beautiful squares, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. The square frequently hosts festive and cultural events, among them, in August of every even year, the installation of an immense flower carpet in its centre. It is also a centre of annual celebrations during the Christmas and New Year period, and a Christmas tree has been erected annually on the square since the mid-20th century.

This site is served by the premetro (underground tram) station Bourse/Beurs (on lines 3 and 4), as well as the bus stop Grand Place/Grote Markt (on line 95).^[1]

Amusement park in the City of Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe is a miniature park located in Bruparck, at the foot of the Atomium, in Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe has reproductions of monuments in the European Union and other countries within the continent of Europe on display, at a scale of 1:25. Roughly 80 cities and 350 buildings are represented. Mini-Europe receives 350,000 visitors per year and has a turnover of €4 million.

The park contains live action models such as trains, mills, an erupting Mount Vesuvius, and cable cars. A guide gives the details on all the monuments. At the end of the visit, the Spirit of Europe exhibition gives an interactive overview of the European Union in the form of multimedia games.

The park is built on an area of 24,000 m2 (300,000 sq ft). The initial investment was of €10 million in 1989, on its inauguration by then-Prince Philip of Belgium.^[2]

Museum in the City of Brussels, Belgium. The Atomium is a landmark building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. It is located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken, where the exhibition took place. Nowadays, it is the city's most popular tourist attraction, and serves as a museum, an art centre and a cultural place.

Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and the architects André and Jean Polak, it stands 102 metres (335 ft) tall. Its nine 18-metre-diameter (59 ft) stainless steel clad spheres are connected in the shape of a unit cell that could represent an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes connecting the spheres enclose stairs, escalators and an elevator (in the central, vertical tube) to allow access to the six visitable spheres, which contain exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere includes a restaurant with a panoramic view of Brussels. The building was completely renovated between 2004 and 2006 by the companies Jacques Delens and BESIX.

The building is located on the Square de l'Atomium/Atomiumsquare, at the intersection of the Boulevard du Centenaire/Eeuwfeestlaan with the Avenue de l'Atomium/Atomiumlaan and the Avenue de Bouchout/Boechoutlaan. It is served by Heysel/Heizel metro station on line 6 of the Brussels Metro.^[3]

Church and pilgrimage site with holy relic. The Basilica of the Holy Blood is a Roman Catholic basilica in Bruges, Belgium. The church houses a relic of the Holy Blood allegedly collected by Joseph of Arimathea and brought from the Holy Land by Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders. Built between 1134 and 1157 as the chapel of the Count of Flanders, it was promoted to a minor basilica in 1923.

The basilica in Burg square consists of a lower and upper chapel. The lower chapel, dedicated to St. Basil the Great, is a dark Romanesque structure that remains virtually unchanged. The venerated Passion relic is in the upper chapel, which was rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 16th century and renovated in the 19th century in Gothic Revival style.^[8]

Late Gothic church with rich interiors. St. Nicholas Church is one of the oldest and most prominent landmarks in Ghent, Belgium. Begun in the early 13th century as a replacement for an earlier Romanesque church, construction continued through the rest of the century in the local Scheldt Gothic style. Typical of this style is the use of blue-gray stone from the Tournai area, the single large tower above the crossing, and the slender turrets at the building's corners.

Built in the old trade center of Ghent next to the bustling Korenmarkt (Wheat Market), St. Nicholas Church was popular with the guilds whose members carried out their business nearby. The guilds had their own chapels which were added to the sides of the church in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The central tower, which was funded in part by the city, served as an observation post and carried the town bells until the neighboring belfry of Ghent was built. These two towers, along with the Saint Bavo Cathedral, still define the famous medieval skyline of the city center. One of the treasures of the church is its organ, produced by the famous French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.^[11]

Art-rich 13th-century religious edifice. St. Rumbold's Cathedral is the Belgian metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral in Mechelen, dedicated to Saint Rumbold, Christian missionary and martyr who had founded an abbey nearby. His remains are rumoured to be buried inside the cathedral. State-of-the-art examination of the relics honoured as Saint Rumbold's and kept in a shrine in the retro-choir, showed a life span of about 40 years and a death date between 580 and 655, while tradition had claimed 775 AD.

In 1999, the tower of the cathedral was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, in recognition of its architecture and its importance in civic duties such as a watchtower.^[16]

The Place Charles Rogier or Karel Rogierplein, usually shortened to the Place Rogier, or Rogier by locals, is a major square in the Brussels municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium. It is named in honour of Charles Rogier, a former Prime Minister of Belgium who played a great political role during the Belgian Revolution of 1830.

The square is located on the transition between Brussels' historic city centre (the Pentagon) and the Northern Quarter business district (also called Little Manhattan), an exponent of modern Brussels. It is an important communication node in the city both in terms of road network and public transport. Many hotels, offices and shops adjoin it. The Rue Neuve/Nieuwstraat, Belgium's second busiest shopping street, also ends there. It is served by the metro and premetro (underground tram) station Rogier on lines 2, 3, 4 and 6.^[19]

Tower in Tournai, Belgium. The belfry of Tournai, Belgium, is a freestanding bell tower of medieval origin, 72 metres in height with a 256-step stairway. This landmark building is one of a set of belfries of Belgium and France registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in recognition of their civic architecture and importance in the rise of municipal power in Europe.

Construction of the belfry began around 1188 when King Philip Augustus of France granted Tournai its town charter, conferring among other privileges the right to mount a communal bell to ring out signals to the townsfolk.

The tower in its original form was evocative of the feudal keep, with a square cross section and crenelated parapet. It served in part as a watchtower for spotting fires and enemies. The growing city saw fit to expand the belfry in 1294, raising it by an additional stage, and buttressing its corners with four polygonal towerlets. A soldier statue was placed atop each towerlet, and a dragon icon surmounted the entire structure. The dragon, symbol of power and vigilance, also adorns other old tower tops in Belgium, including those of the Cloth Hall of Ypres and the belfry of Ghent.

A fire damaged the building in 1391. In the following years, the city obtained new bells to replace the ruined ones, and affixed gilded decorations to the newly restored top part of the tower: mermen, banners, and a new dragon. The largest bell of this period, called Bancloque, and the fire bell or Timbre, have been preserved to this day. A carillon was added in 1535.

In addition to its other roles, the belfry also served as a jail; some of its chambers housed prisoners until 1827.

The building underwent a major restoration in the mid-19th century. Another renovation campaign began in 1992, and lasted roughly a decade.^[22]

Archeology and decorative arts museum. The Curtius Museum is a museum of archaeology and decorative arts, located on the bank of the river Meuse in Liège, classified as a Major Heritage of Wallonia.

It was built sometime between 1597 and 1610 as a private mansion for Jean Curtius, industrialist and munitions supplier to the Spanish army. With its alternating layers of red brick and natural stone, and its cross-mullioned windows, the building typifies the regional style known as the Mosan (or Meuse) Renaissance.

After a 50 million euro redevelopment, the museum reopened as the Grand Curtius (Le Grand Curtius) in March 2009, now housing the merged collections of four former museums: the museum of archeology, the museum of weaponry, the museum of decorative arts, and the museum of religious art and Mosan art. Highlights in the collections include treasures of Mosan art such as a twelfth-century gilded reliquary triptych, formerly in the church of Sainte-Croix, the Evangelarium of Notger, sculptures by Jean Del Cour, and a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte painted by Ingres in 1804: Bonaparte, First Consul.^[24]