Belgium and Luxembourg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG REGION BY REGION 79

Lavish Art Nouveau lobby with tessellated mosaic floor at the Hotel Hannon in St-Gilles

GREATER BRUSSELS

Buildings and Monuments

The Atomium w

Basilique Nationale du

Sacré-Coeur 9

Begijnhof van Anderlecht 8

Erasmus House 7

Museums

Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Ixelles 2

Musée Bruxellois de

la Gueuze 6

Musée Constantin Meunier 3

Musée David et Alice

van Buuren 4

Musée Horta 1

Rene Magritte Museum 0

Musée Royal de

l’Afrique Centrale t

Musée du Transport Urbain

Bruxellois r

Tours

Art Nouveau Tour 5

Parks and Gardens

Bruparck q

Domaine de Laeken e

SIGHTS AT A GLANCE

Sign at the

Erasmus House

0 km

0 miles

2

2

KEY

Brussels city centre

Greater Brussels

International airport

Train station

Motorway

Main road

Minor road

Railway

SEE ALSO

• Where to Stay p263


• Where to Eat pp286–7

C

entral Brussels is bound

by a heart-shaped ring-

road called the Petite

Ceinture (Small Belt), which

follows the path of the old

medieval city walls. Beyond

this lie 19 suburbs which form

the Bruxelles-Capitale region.

Many of these are residential,

but a handful contain treasures

of Brussels’s history. For fans of early

20th-century architecture, the suburbs

of St-Gilles and Ixelles offer striking Art

Nouveau buildings, such as the Musée

Horta. To the west lies the suburb of

Anderlecht and the charming

house where the Renaissance

humanist Erasmus lived. In

Koekelberg is the huge dome

of the Basilique Nationale du

Sacré-Coeur. To the north,

Heysel offers attractions such

as the Atomium, originally built

in 1958, whose modernity con-

trasts with the historical city

centre. To the east, the Musée Royal

de l’Afrique Centrale reflects Belgium’s

colonial past in the Congo, while Musée

du Transport Urbain takes visitors on

a journey through Brussels’s past.

BRUSSELS

N8

N6

N5

N12

R21

R20

R0

A10

R0

A201

N3

N2

2

N4

A7

Ixelles

Uccle

Watermael-

Boitsfort

St-Gilles

Drogenbos

Wemmel

Heysel

Ste-Agatha-

Berchem

Anderlecht

Tervuren

Evere

Etterbeek

Auderghem

Kraainem

Woluwe-

St-Pierre

Dilbeek Woluwe-St-

St-Josse

Molenbeek

Koekelberg

Zellik

Ganshoren Jette

Schaerbeek

Zaventem

Forest-Est

Diegen

Lambert

Mons 35 km

(22 miles) Charleroi

41 km (25 miles)

Antwerp

40 km (25 miles)

Ghent

40 km (25 miles)

Ronse

47 km

(29 miles)

Leuven

15 km

(9 miles)

Gare du Midi

Zuidstation

Gare du Nord

Noordstation

Brussels

Airport