This monument commemorates the carrier pigeons of WWI.
©Analia Glogowski/Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
25.26 MILES
This delightfully indulgent 1611 mansion was built as a home and studio for celebrated painter Pieter Paul Rubens. It was rescued from ruins in 1937 and…
25.43 MILES
Belgium’s finest Gothic cathedral was 169 years in the making (1352–1521). Wherever you wander in Antwerp, its gracious, 123m-high spire has a habit of…
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts
0.99 MILES
This prestigious museum incorporates the Musée d’Art Ancien (ancient art); the Musée d’Art Moderne (modern art), with works by surrealist Paul Delvaux and…
25.28 MILES
The medieval building and 1622 courtyard garden alone would be worth a visit, but it's the world's oldest printing press, priceless manuscripts and…
0.96 MILES
This 1899 former department store is an art nouveau showpiece with a black facade aswirl with wrought iron and arched windows. The building contains the…
2.32 MILES
Parc du Cinquantenaire was built during Léopold II's reign. It's best known for its cluster of museums – art, history, military and motor vehicles – which…
Institut des Sciences Naturelles
1.79 MILES
Thought-provoking and highly interactive, this museum has far more than the usual selection of stuffed animals. But the undoubted highlight is a unique …
0.62 MILES
Lace making has been one of Flanders’ finest crafts since the 16th century. While kloskant (bobbin lace) originated in Bruges, naaldkant (needlepoint lace…
Nearby Brussels attractions
0.03 MILES
Surmounted by a tall granite tower topped by a bronze statue of St-Micheal, the fountain commemorates a former mayor.
0.08 MILES
In this mural a tetchy-looking Manneken Pis gazes up at his pediment, from which he has been displaced by a grinning, peeing bear.
3. Église St-Jean-Baptiste au Béguinage
0.2 MILES
This soaring 1657 Flemish baroque masterpiece was designed by Luc Fayd’Herbe, a student of Rubens. It’s often cited as Belgium’s most beautiful church and…
0.21 MILES
This bright, dynamic mural features not a football club but a parade of characters based on a TV series that ran from 1990 to 2011. The show was turned…
0.23 MILES
A not-for-profit gallery in a former banana warehouse, founded in 1989 to promote video art that engages with politics. In addition to changing temporary…
6. Église Ste-Catherine
0.24 MILES
Église Ste-Catherine must be one of the only religious buildings that positively encourages folks to urinate on its walls (there’s a ‘pissoir’ on its…
0.26 MILES
Boxed in on three sides and incongruously dwarfed by the back of a Novotel Hotel, this tower is an ivy-draped remnant of Brussels’ original city wall.
0.28 MILES
This raw and unsettling mural is based on Caravaggio's Sacrifice of Isaac, and shows a child about to have his throat cut. The artist, who has also…