Cathédrale des Saints-Michel-et-Gudule
Place Sainte-Gudule, 1000 Brussels
Brussels' cathedral is a Gothic masterpiece that took 300 years to build (1226-1519) and sits on the hill between the upper and lower town like a stone mediator between the royal quarter above and the commercial city below.
European Quarter
Rue de la Loi, Quartier Nord-Est, Brussels, 1040, Belgium
The European Quarter is where the European Union lives — a district of glass-and-steel institutional buildings east of the city centre that houses the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament, and the bureaucratic machinery that governs 450 million people.
Grand-Place
Grand-Place, 1000 Brussels
The Grand-Place is the most beautiful square in Europe — Victor Hugo called it so, UNESCO agrees, and standing in the centre of this enclosed rectangle of gilded Baroque guild houses, with the Gothic town hall's 96-metre spire rising above and the entire ensemble lit gold by the evening sun, it's hard to argue with either of them.
Halle Gate (Porte de Hal)
150 Boulevard du Midi, Pentagone, Brussels, 1000, Belgium
The Halle Gate is the only surviving gate of Brussels' 14th-century city wall — a massive stone tower at the edge of the Marolles that once marked the southern entrance to the walled city and now houses a small museum of medieval Brussels inside its spiral staircases and vaulted chambers.
Palais de Justice
Place Poelaert 1, 1000 Brussels
The Palais de Justice is the largest courthouse in the world — a colossal Greco-Roman-Egyptian-Assyrian pile that covers 26,000 square metres (larger than St.
Royal Palace of Brussels
Rue Brederode 16, 1000 Brussels
The Royal Palace of Brussels is the Belgian monarch's official palace — a neoclassical building on the Place des Palais that is larger than Buckingham Palace (a fact Belgians enjoy mentioning) and is open to the public every summer from late July through early September, giving visitors access to the state rooms, the throne room, and the Mirror Room, whose ceiling was covered in 2002 with the iridescent wing cases of 1.
Explore history in Brussels
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.