Architecture sights in Belgium
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Centraal Station
One of the city's premier landmarks is the extraordinary Centraal Station, designed by Louis Delacenserie at the start of the 20th century in a harmonious blend of styles. Steps lead from the main hall with its enormous dome up to the glass-covered train platforms above. The station and adjoining Koningin Astridplein have been undergoing massive works for years to accommodate the Eurostar and Thalys fast trains, thus directly linking the city to London and the rest of Europe. .
The station is also diamond central, with many shops selling diamonds inside the station, and the Diamond District immediately south-west of it.
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Cogels-Osylei
This area, about 2km southeast of Centraal Station, is famed for the eclectic architecture found in a handful of streets. The showcase is Cogels-Osylei, a bazaar of all possible house styles. Here the city's affluent citizens went wild a century ago, creating competing and highly contrasting façades ranging in style from Art Nouveau and Flemish baroque to neoclassical and neo-Renaissance. Roofs and towers spiked with onion tops or witches' hats, wrought-iron balconies, bay windows, slate tiles, stained glass and mosaics…you name it, this street's got it.
Most of the buildings were constructed between 1894 and 1914 and involved many architects. In the 1960s the houses f…
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Town Hall
This flamboyant late-Gothic structure resembles an overblown wedding cake full of terraced turrets, delicate statues, fancy stonework and colourful flags. The 236 statues represent prominent locals throughout the ages - scholars, artists and nobility - that were added as an afterthought in the mid-19th century.
Incredibly, the Stadhuis survived relatively unscathed during the wars (although a bomb, which failed to explode, scoured part of the façade). There's not all that much to see inside; most notable are the few sculptures by Constantin Meunier.
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St Pieterskerk
One of the main edifices is St Pieterskerk, a late-Gothic structure. Construction started in 1425, the same year that the university was founded, but the church never reached full throttle as unstable subsoil forced the builders to abandon a 170m-high tower. Inside, highlights include an elaborately carved stone rood screen and an equally impressive wooden baroque pulpit. However, it's the church's treasury that most people come to see.
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Cathédrale des Sts Michel & Gudule
Rising out of a sea of 20th-century buildings, Brussels’ twin-towered cathedral is named after Brussels’ male and female patron saints. Construction began in 1226 but it would be another 300 years before it was completed, accounting for the hybrid of styles used – from Romanesque through to Renaissance. Take the stairs down to the crypt to see archaeological remains of an 11th-century Romanesque chapel.
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Stained-Glass Windows
An Art Nouveau gem is concealed on Rue du Vieux Marché aux Grains. Go through the black doors at number 36-40 to a small courtyard (this is private property but the owners do not mind if visitors peek inside - the doors are open 07:00 to 17:00 weekdays) where two old stained-glass windows are visible. One features a young woman in a white gown standing before a pond, the other a Chinese lady.
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Église Collégiale St Barthélemy
Romanesque Église Collégiale St Barthélemy has one attraction - a brass baptismal font crafted between 1107 and 1118 and believed to be the work of either Lambert Patras, a coppersmith from Dinant, or Renier, a goldsmith from Huy. This enormous bowl rests on oxen and is adorned with five baptismal scenes (elaborately described in a video screened near the font).
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Basilique Nationale Du Sacré-Cœur
The mighty Basilique Nationale Du Sacré-Cœur sits at the end of the ruler-straight Blvd Léopold II in Koekelberg. It's the world's fifth-largest church and is also arguably the city's most ghastly religious edifice, a discordant mix of neogothic and Art Deco with dull brown stonework, capped towers and a bulbous 90m-high dome (around €3 to climb).
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Beguinage of Leuven
The cobblestoned 'Groot Begijnhof', a UNESCO World Heritage site, is secured behind large walls near the Dijle River to the south of the town centre. It was founded by the Beguines in 1232, though most of the houses date from the 17th century when around 300 Beguines still lived here. The restored, somewhat sober houses are now a university residential quarter.
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Saint Bartholomew Church
Crafted between 1107 and 1118, the Eglise Collégiale St Bathélemy is a collegiate church worth seeing for its graceful, brass baptismal font by Renier d'Huy. The font exhibits a large bowl resting on oxen, and is adorned with five naturalistic baptismal scenes. Inside, there's splendid art from the 17th and 18th centuries.
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't Bootje
Although Zurenborg has the city's most dense concentration of Art Nouveau architecture, another fine example can be seen in 't Zuid and is just a short walk from the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. 't Bootje has a little ship-shaped balcony that is part of a 1901 townhouse called De Vijf Continenten (The Five Continents).
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Église Notre Dame des Riches Claires
From a public courtyard off Place St Géry (go through the black steel gates next to the bistro La Lion St Géry), there's a view of Église Notre Dame des Riches Claires, an intriguing asymmetrical church. Nearby is the Nero mural, one of the city's many comic-strip murals.
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Glass Elevator
A glass elevator connects the Marolles' Place Breugel with Place Poelaert in the Upper Town, offering a great way to move between the quarters plus a fab city view. It descends from the Palais de Justice, leaving you just a block from the Place du Jeu de Balle, an outdoor flea market.
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Église St Jean Baptiste au Béguinage
Check out the imposing façade of the Église St Jean Baptiste au Béguinage . Deemed by many to be Belgium's most beautiful, the church dates from the 17th century and was designed by Luc Fayd'Herbe, a student of Rubens, which explains its strong Flemish baroque style.
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Help U Zelve
Help U Zelve is arguably the city's most beautiful and harmonious Art Nouveau façade. Built in 1901 by architects Van Asperen and Van Averbeke, it features mosaics and strongly geometric wrought-iron work. It's now used as a Rudolph Steiner school.
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Église Notre Dame du Sablon
Built by a guild of crossbow enthusiasts at the start of the 14th century, this late-Gothic church sees sunlight streaming in through its stained-glass windows and on to its baroque chapels and intricately sculpted pulpit.
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Église Notre Dame de la Chapelle
Built in 1134, this Romanesque Gothic church is Brussels’ oldest and has a chapel devoted to Pieter Breugel the Elder who once lived nearby.
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Twaalf Duivels
The Twaalf Duivels , built in 1896 by Jules Hofman, has a timber façade that gives way to 12 wooden devils that leer at passers-by.
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Rue Neuve area
The Église Notre Dame du Finistère is an 18th-century church that sits in vivid contrast to the modern mania around it.
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St Jan de Doperkerk
Visit the church, St Jan de Doperkerk in Groot Begijnhof, whose Gothic façade hides an elaborate baroque interior.
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Huize Zonnebloem
An exquisite Art Nouveau example along Cogels-Osylei is the Huize Zonnebloem, built by Jules Hofman in 1900.
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Euterpia
The Euterpia, from 1906, follows Greek neoclassical lines - the door handle even resembles an Olympic torch.
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De Vier Seizoenen
Mosaics are at their best at De Vier Seizoenen, designed in 1899 by the architect Bascourt.
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Quinten Matsys
An exquisite Art Nouveau example along Cogels-Osylei is the Quinten Matsys built in 1904.
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De Morgenster
An exquisite Art Nouveau example along Cogels-Osylei is the De Morgenster built in 1904.
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