50 Fun Facts About Brussels

How many municipalities make up the Brussels-Capital Region?

The Brussels-Capital Region consists of 19 municipalities; the City of Brussels, the national capital, is just one of them.

The name Brussels most likely comes from Old Dutch words meaning what?

Bruocsella combined 'bruoc', marsh, and 'sella', home; a bishop first recorded 'Brosella' in 695.

On which river did Brussels grow up?

Brussels grew up on the Senne; the river's course through the city was covered over between 1867 and 1871 because it had become a health hazard.

Which mayor had the city's river covered over between 1867 and 1871?

Mayor Jules Anspach drove the covering of the Senne (1867-1871) after it became a health hazard; the central Boulevard Anspach is named after him.

Which two languages are official in the Brussels-Capital Region?

French and Dutch are the region's two official languages; historically Dutch-speaking, the city shifted to French from the late 19th century, and the region itself was created in 1989.

Which flower is the emblem of the Brussels Region and appears on its flag?

The yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus) is the region's emblem, recalling the flowers that grew on the marshy original site of the city; a stylised iris appears on the regional flag.

Which two bodies besides the EU have their headquarters or secretariat in Brussels?

Besides the EU, NATO and the Benelux Union are based in Brussels: NATO's headquarters are in Haren and the Benelux secretariat-general sits in the city centre.

According to legend, who built a chapel on an island in the river around 580?

Legend says Saint Gaugericus (Saint Géry) built a chapel on an island in the Senne around 580; the official founding is dated to about 979, when Saint Gudula's relics were moved there.

Which Habsburg emperor abdicated his possessions at the Coudenberg Palace in 1555?

Charles V began abdicating his possessions at the Coudenberg Palace in 1555, handing the Netherlands to his son Philip; he had been declared of age there in 1515, and the palace burned down in 1731.

Which French king's bombardment of 1695 destroyed the Grand-Place and a third of the city?

Louis XIV's forces under Marshal Villeroi bombarded Brussels in August 1695, destroying the Grand-Place and some 4,000 buildings, the most destructive event in the city's history.

The Belgian Revolution of 1830 broke out after a performance of which opera?

Auber's La Muette de Portici, performed in Brussels on 25 August 1830, stirred the audience with its patriotic revolt duet; the riots that followed grew into the Belgian Revolution.

Who became the first King of the Belgians in 1831?

Leopold of Saxe-Coburg took the oath as Leopold I, first King of the Belgians, on 21 July 1831; the date became Belgium's national day.

What distinction does the 1835 Molenbeek to Mechelen line hold?

Opened on 5 May 1835 with three British-built locomotives, the Allée Verte (Molenbeek) to Mechelen line was Belgium's first railway line and among the earliest steam passenger lines on the European mainland.

Which 1815 battle, fought just south of Brussels, ended Napoleon's final campaign?

Waterloo, about 15 km south of Brussels, saw Napoleon's final defeat on 18 June 1815; French rule over the city had already ended in 1814, and the Congress of Vienna placed Belgium under William I's United Netherlands.

The Grand-Place has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since which year?

The Grand-Place was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998; the Town Hall and the King's House face each other across it.

Which sculptor's bronze Manneken Pis was put in place in 1619?

Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder cast the bronze Manneken Pis, put in place in 1619; a statue on the spot is attested from the mid-15th century.

Roughly how many costumes are in Manneken Pis's wardrobe?

The wardrobe holds about a thousand costumes, kept at the Garderobe MannekenPis museum; the statue is regularly dressed for occasions and visiting delegations.

What is Jeanneke Pis?

Jeanneke Pis is a fountain of a squatting girl: a small bronze commissioned by Denis-Adrien Debouvrie in 1985 as a counterpart to Manneken Pis and installed in 1987 off the Rue des Bouchers.

What does Het Zinneke, the third of Brussels's 'Pis' sculptures, show?

Het Zinneke is Tom Frantzen's bronze of a mongrel dog urinating against a bollard, installed on the Rue des Chartreux in the late 1990s as a piece of Brussels 'zwanze' humour.

For which event was the Atomium built?

The Atomium was built for the 1958 World's Fair (Expo 58) on the Heysel Plateau; the roughly 102-metre structure symbolised faith in scientific progress.

The Atomium's nine spheres show the unit cell of which crystal, magnified 165 billion times?

The nine spheres form the body-centred cubic unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times; each stainless-steel-clad sphere is 18 metres across.

Who designed the Atomium?

Engineer André Waterkeyn designed the Atomium, working with the architects André and Jean Polak; it opened for Expo 58.

At what scale are the monuments of Mini-Europe, at the foot of the Atomium, built?

Mini-Europe's models are built at 1:25 scale, so the Brussels Town Hall stands nearly four metres high; around 350 buildings from some 80 cities are represented.

Which EU institution is housed in the Berlaymont building?

The Berlaymont is the headquarters of the European Commission; asbestos found in 1990 forced a renovation that lasted until 2004.

Which architect's Art Nouveau town houses in Brussels are UNESCO-listed?

Four of Victor Horta's Art Nouveau town houses (Tassel, Solvay, van Eetvelde and his own house) were inscribed by UNESCO in 2000.

What does the term 'Brusselisation' describe?

'Brusselisation' means the careless demolition and redevelopment of a historic city by unchecked developers; the 1965 loss of Horta's Maison du Peuple is the emblematic case.

Who designed the Palace of Justice, built between 1866 and 1883?

Joseph Poelaert designed the Palace of Justice, built 1866-1883 in an eclectic Greco-Roman style; its dome rises about 104 metres over the Marolles.

The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert shopping arcade opened in which year?

The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert opened in 1847, among the earliest covered shopping arcades in Europe; Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar's 213-metre passage took thirteen months to build.

Which king drove the completion of the Cinquantenaire's triumphal arch in 1905?

Leopold II drove the completion of the Cinquantenaire's triumphal arch, designed by Charles Girault, in 1905 for Belgium's 75th anniversary.

The Brussels Metro's first proper metro lines opened in which year?

The first true metro lines opened on 20 September 1976; the De Brouckère to Schuman section had run as premetro trams since 1969.

Which comic-strip hero's creator, Hergé, was born in the municipality of Etterbeek?

Hergé (Georges Remi), born in Etterbeek in 1907, created Tintin in 1929 for Le Petit Vingtième, after drawing The Adventures of Totor for a Scouting magazine from 1926.

Which Hollywood star was born into an aristocratic family in Ixelles, Brussels?

Audrey Hepburn was born in Ixelles on 4 May 1929 to a Dutch baroness, Ella van Heemstra; she spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands.

Which singer-songwriter was born in Schaerbeek, Brussels, in 1929?

Jacques Brel was born in Schaerbeek on 8 April 1929 and died in 1978; his songs include 'Ne me quitte pas' and 'Amsterdam'.

The Magritte Museum in the Royal Quarter is devoted to which movement's leading Belgian?

René Magritte was the leading Belgian figure of Surrealism; the museum, opened in 2009 on the Place Royale, holds over 200 of his works, including the bowler-hatted men and pipes.

How many league titles had RSC Anderlecht, Belgium's most successful club, won by 2025?

Anderlecht's 34th Belgian league title came in 2017; the club also won the Cup Winners' Cup twice (1976, 1978), the UEFA Cup (1983) and two UEFA Super Cups.

Anderlecht's ground was renamed Lotto Park in 2019 from what?

The Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, named after the club's long-time chairman, opened in 1983 on the site of the Emile Versé Stadium and became Lotto Park under a 2019 sponsorship deal.

What does the Ommegang procession every July commemorate?

The Ommegang re-enacts Charles V's Joyous Entry of 1549, when the emperor and his son, the future Philip II, were received in Brussels; the procession itself goes back to a 14th-century religious pageant.

Where is the biennial Flower Carpet laid out every August?

The Flower Carpet is laid out on the Grand-Place, the main square, every other mid-August using hundreds of thousands of begonias; the first was made in 1971.

Which vegetable, possibly first grown near the city, is named after Brussels?

Brussels sprouts, a cabbage relative named after the city, were grown around Brussels long before they spread across northern Europe; the buds form along a tall stalk.

Which Brussels museum occupies the Art Nouveau Old England department store building?

The Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) occupies the Art Nouveau Old England department store of 1899 on the Rue Montagne de la Cour, near the Place Royale.

Which four foods are singled out as the city's culinary calling cards?

Waffle, chocolate, French fries and beer are the four foods Brussels is best known for; the city has its own rectangular Brussels waffle, and Belgium brews hundreds of beers.

What is the Brussels trail of comic-strip murals painted on building walls called?

The Comic Book Route (Parcours BD), begun in 1991, is a trail of more than 50 murals of Belgian comic characters painted on walls around the city centre.

What is the approximate area of the Brussels-Capital Region?

The Brussels-Capital Region covers about 162 km2 (161.4 km2), which with more than 1.2 million residents makes it by far the densest region in Belgium.

Brussels forms an enclave within which part of Belgium?

The Brussels-Capital Region is an enclave entirely surrounded by Flanders, though Wallonia lies only a few kilometres to the south.

Which town's Bishop, Saint Vindicianus, first recorded the name Brosella in 695?

Saint Vindicianus, Bishop of Cambrai, recorded the name Brosella in a charter of 695, when the place was a hamlet by the Senne.

Which municipality is the only one in the region whose name is not of Dutch origin?

It may be Celtic or Old Frankish.

Which two industries made Brussels famous across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries?

Brussels was famed for lace and tapestry: its workshops wove Raphael's Acts of the Apostles tapestries for the Sistine Chapel in the 1510s, and Brussels lace dressed Europe's courts.

Which industrialist founded the Brussels physics conferences first held in 1911?

Ernest Solvay, the chemical industrialist, funded the first Solvay Conference on physics in Brussels in 1911; the famous 1927 conference gathered Einstein, Bohr and Marie Curie.

Which theatre staged the 1830 opera performance that sparked the revolution?

La Monnaie (De Munt in Dutch) staged Auber's La Muette de Portici on 25 August 1830; the audience poured out into riots that became the Belgian Revolution.

Which body sits at the top of the Belgian judiciary in the Palace of Justice?

The Court of Cassation, Belgium's supreme court for points of law, sits in the Palace of Justice alongside the Brussels Court of Appeal and the Court of Assizes.