Unique Things To See in Brussels

An Overview of Brussels

Brussels is a unique city which serves as the historical and political capital of the Belgium. The city holds vital importance as the administrative center of the European Union, hosting an array of principle EU Institutions, primarily in the European Quarter. The city is full of unique artwork, strange language and a robust gastronomic culture. Waffles, chocolates, specialized fries, traditional craft beers and foreign inclusions are all available in the city. Thanks to the numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites and architectural landmarks, there are many unique things to see in Brussels.

Unique Things To See In Brussels

Royal Greenhouses of Laeken

The Royal Greenhouses, located in the Parc de Laeken – Royal Parc, are a set of lush, heated greenhouses built on old royal estates. The elegant domes, glass ceilings, tropical plants within and flower-laden outer-grounds make the Royal Greenhouse and excellent place to visit.

Théâtre Royal de Toone

Touching on some of Belgium’s unique traditions, this is a 200-year-old puppet theater-bar with marionette decorations. The various shows and plays performed at the theater are folkloric tales, popular within the culture. Many of these shows are done in the Brusselian dialect (Marols or Marollien), the traditional Brabantian dialect or in other languages. The plays often employ the spirit of zwanze, a sarcastic form of folk-humor intrinsic to Brussels.

Cook Book

This is a famous bookstore on the outskirts of Brussels. The shop is the size of a supermarket with literature decorations, a large model train track, vinyl records and a greenhouse alongside the store’s nature section. Naturally, the immense walls of books and tomes are the bookstore’s primary attraction.

Manneken Pis

Manneken Pis is a cheeky, wildly famous feature of Brussels. The beloved statue of a boy peeing into a fountain has international acclaim.  The statue is graced with many different outfits from visiting cultures and dignitaries.  

Jeanneke Pis

This is the lesser known sister of Manneken Pis. The statue takes the forms of a squatting, peeing girl.  Coins dropped into the girl’s fountain are donated to research charities.

Zinneke Pis

Yet another statue which adheres to Belgium’s singular and humorous culture. This statue depicts the he beloved sculpture pet of Manneken Pis. Naturally, the peeing theme is kept intact, since this dog statue is seen marking its territory in downtown Brussels.

The Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée)

Brussels is truly famous for Comic Books and their contributions to worldwide art cultures. This center includes a hall of fame for comic book arts with homages for Tin Tin, the Smurfs and other Franco-Belgian comics of cultural fame.

Comic Strip Route

This walking route is another homage to Brussels’ comic-centric art contributions. Much of Brussels is covered in buildings with comic strips plastered onto their sides.  The full comic-book-culture of Belgium can be experienced during several walks through the city, often best done with a tour guide.

The Atomium

This major, unique and reflective structure can be found just outside the northern portion of Parc de Laeken. The Atomium is a superstructure of an iron crystal with segmented orb-and-rod attachments. The 335-foot-tall structure was created for the Brussels World’s Fair before becoming a permanent part of the landscape and city.

Le Cercueil

This is Brussels’ horror-themed bar decorated with reapers, skeletons and the morbid features of human imagination.  Since horror is a theme, much of the menu and ambiance reflects death, cyrtids and creepiness. The bar serves vampire blood, devil’s sperm, corpse juice and other grim beverages.

The Grand Palace

The Grand Palace is one of the most central and famous buildings in Brussels. The Palace is a beautiful 15th Century building with a large plaza space and a blossoming flower market. Many demonstrations, impromptu shows and public events can be found here. The plaza space is surrounded by opulent Baroque guild-buildings harkening back to the famed Guilds of Brussels. The Town Hall and neo-Gothic King’s House Building are the most recognizable and visually stunning.

The Royal Palace

Not to be confused with the Grand Palace, the Royal Palace is located away from the city’s center, a bit further to the East Though the Belgium Royal Family now live in Laeken, the Royal Palace is technically their official residence.  It is open for tourists in the summer months. The Royal Palace is located in a beautiful part of town, best accessed through the vast trails and fountain-areas of Brussels Park.

Musical Instrument Museum (The Old England Building)

This building hosts a museum of incredible art and ornately decorated instruments. It’s internationally renewed for it’s immense collection of over 8,00 preserved instruments, making this facility the largest of its kind on Earth. Exhibits show popular and obscure instruments while allowing guests to listen to music playing in certain areas. The museum is also home to a pleasant café space on the upper levels.

Temple of Human Passions (Horta-Lambeaux Pavilion)

This is an amusingly scandalous temple depicting sexual marble walls in the traditionally Greek Marble style. Figures are etched into marble surfaces, withering around in Classical Greek forms. This somewhat tucked-away temple is found near Brussels Triumphal Arch. Numerous other interesting museums are nearby, including the Autoworld Vintage Car-and-Carriage Musuem, the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History, the Art & History Museum National & Global Archeological Finds and the beautiful Grand Mosque of Brussels and Islamic and Cultural Centre.

Choco-Story Brussels

This is a popular chocolate museum in Brussels happily crammed with free samples for visitors. Guests can learn about the Brussels chocolate-making process, the impact of chocolate on colonial trade and the transition of liquid-beverage chocolates into the molded sugary concoctions of the modern era.

Museum of Fantastic Art

This is a strange art museum utterly crammed with trippy light, color and sculpture pieces. The museum is known for hosting spooky, bizarre and outright strange artworks in its collection. Some of the pieces are a little strange, but other are outright demented mixes of animal bones and suspended, freakish humanoids.

Peter the Great’s Vomit

While this isn’t an impressive statue to look at, the history behind this unassuming point is compelling to learn. When the Russian Royal “Peter the Great” ralphed into a fountain, Belgians marked down the actual location in Parc de Bruxelles. Apparently, ruling as a famed Russian Tsar is a lofty enough position to ensure even your vomit gets an honorable mention.

MOOF (Museum of Original Figurines)

This is a museum crammed with hundreds of tiny childhood characters and figures. This includes collectable items from vintage cartoons, comics and TV Shows. Comic book heroes, Smurfs and Tin Tin are all rendered as miniture.

Clockarium

This is a museum dedicated to ceramic Art-Deco Clocks.  Inside, walls are covered with fragile, beautiful figures in a variety of different styles. The museum is only available for visitors on Sunday with advance bookings.

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