Parc du Cinquantenaire

Monumental 19th century park
Word to the wise: Visitors to the Royal Museum of Army and Military History can gain access to the top of the Triumphal Arch for free.

Talk of the town: Housed in a building initially built for Belgium's 50th anniversary celebrations, the park also houses Brussels' main mosque.
Created to house the World Exhibition which King Leopold II commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Belgium's independence, this park is filled with grand monuments designed to display the country's wealth and prosperity.

Dominating the park is the vast Triumphal Arch, built as a grand gateway to those visiting the city from the east. This regal monument, topped with a bronze sculpture of the raising of the Belgian flag, with statues representing each of the provinces at the foot of the towering columns, took so long to build that it eventually opened just in time for the 75th Anniversary of Independence.

Two vast exhibition spaces on either side of the arch are now occupied by the Royal Museum of Art & History, the Royal Museum of Army and Military History, and the Auto-World Museum, but on a sunny day simply take advantage of the lovely landscaped gardens.