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50 free Brussels trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Brussels trivia quiz covers a city that grew from a chapel on a marshy island into the capital of Belgium and the headquarters of the European Union and NATO. It starts with the essentials: what the name means, how many municipalities make up the region, which two languages are official, what the yellow iris on the flag refers to and where the river went. Then it works through the history: Charles V's abdication at Coudenberg, Louis XIV's bombardment that flattened the Grand-Place, the opera performance that started the 1830 revolution, the first passenger railway on the Continent and the mayor who buried the Senne. The second half is the Brussels people actually visit. Manneken Pis and his thousand costumes, his sister and the dog, the Atomium and Mini-Europe, the Galeries Saint-Hubert, the vast Palace of Justice, Horta's Art Nouveau, the Berlaymont, the comic-strip walls, the Ommegang and the flower carpet. It also covers the food, the football club with 34 titles, and the famous natives: Hergé, Audrey Hepburn, Jacques Brel and Magritte. For the country as a whole, see our separate Belgium quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Brussels and its landmarks, institutions and people, and each question links to the page that establishes it. Fifty questions, free, with an explanation after every answer.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many municipalities make up the Brussels-Capital Region?
19
The Brussels-Capital Region consists of 19 municipalities; the City of Brussels, the national capital, is just one of them.
Q 02The name Brussels most likely comes from Old Dutch words meaning what?
Settlement in the marsh
Bruocsella combined 'bruoc', marsh, and 'sella', home; a bishop first recorded 'Brosella' in 695.
Q 03On which river did Brussels grow up?
Senne
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.
Q 04Which mayor had the city's river covered over between 1867 and 1871?
Jules Anspach
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.
Q 05Which two languages are official in the Brussels-Capital Region?
French and Dutch
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.
Q 06Which flower is the emblem of the Brussels Region and appears on its flag?
Yellow iris
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.
Q 07Which two bodies besides the EU have their headquarters or secretariat in Brussels?
NATO and the Benelux
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.
Q 08According to legend, who built a chapel on an island in the river around 580?
Gaugericus
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.
Q 09Which Habsburg emperor abdicated his possessions at the Coudenberg Palace in 1555?
Charles V
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.
Q 10Which French king's bombardment of 1695 destroyed the Grand-Place and a third of the city?
Louis XIV
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.
Q 11The Belgian Revolution of 1830 broke out after a performance of which opera?
La Muette de Portici
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.
Q 12Who became the first King of the Belgians in 1831?
Leopold I
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.
Q 13What distinction does the 1835 Molenbeek to Mechelen line hold?
Belgium's first railway line
Q 21The Atomium's nine spheres show the unit cell of which crystal, magnified 165 billion times?
Iron
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.
Q 22Who designed the Atomium?
André Waterkeyn
Engineer André Waterkeyn designed the Atomium, working with the architects André and Jean Polak; it opened for Expo 58.
Q 23At what scale are the monuments of Mini-Europe, at the foot of the Atomium, built?
1:25
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.
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.
Q 14Which 1815 battle, fought just south of Brussels, ended Napoleon's final campaign?
Waterloo
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.
Q 15The Grand-Place has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since which year?
1998
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.
Q 16Which sculptor's bronze Manneken Pis was put in place in 1619?
Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder
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.
Q 17Roughly how many costumes are in Manneken Pis's wardrobe?
About a thousand
The wardrobe holds about a thousand costumes, kept at the Garderobe MannekenPis museum; the statue is regularly dressed for occasions and visiting delegations.
Q 18What is Jeanneke Pis?
A fountain of a squatting girl
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.
Q 19What does Het Zinneke, the third of Brussels's 'Pis' sculptures, show?
A dog urinating against a bollard
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.
Q 20For which event was the Atomium built?
The 1958 World's Fair
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.
Q 24Which EU institution is housed in the Berlaymont building?
The European Commission
The Berlaymont is the headquarters of the European Commission; asbestos found in 1990 forced a renovation that lasted until 2004.
Q 25Which architect's Art Nouveau town houses in Brussels are UNESCO-listed?
Victor Horta
Four of Victor Horta's Art Nouveau town houses (Tassel, Solvay, van Eetvelde and his own house) were inscribed by UNESCO in 2000.
Q 26What does the term 'Brusselisation' describe?
Careless demolition and redevelopment of a historic city
'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.
Q 27Who designed the Palace of Justice, built between 1866 and 1883?
Joseph Poelaert
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.
Q 28The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert shopping arcade opened in which year?
1847
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.
Q 29Which king drove the completion of the Cinquantenaire's triumphal arch in 1905?
Leopold II
Leopold II drove the completion of the Cinquantenaire's triumphal arch, designed by Charles Girault, in 1905 for Belgium's 75th anniversary.
Q 30The Brussels Metro's first proper metro lines opened in which year?
1976
The first true metro lines opened on 20 September 1976; the De Brouckère to Schuman section had run as premetro trams since 1969.