Brussels Park

Parc de Bruxelles (French) or  Warandepark  (Dutch), is the largest urban public park in the center of Brussels. The area of the rectangular park is 13.1 ha (32 acres).^[1] It is surrounded by the Royal Palace of Brussels, the Belgian parliament and the United States embassy. In the summer, free parties are organized every weekend in the heart of this park. The park is served by Park metro station on line 1 & 5 of the Brussels metro.

History and outline

The park was created between 1776 and 1783 on the site of the gardens of the former Coudenberg palace. The park was designed in a neoclassicist, geometric style by Gilles-Barnabé Guimard and Joachim Zinner. Its main entrance is on the north side, opposite the Belgian House of Parliament. An avenue leads to the main pond, from which three other avenues offer views of three important places in Brussels: the Palace of Justice, the Royal Palace and the Place du Trône (Troonplein). The park is surrounded by a double row of lime trees and a monumental fence designed by Tilman-François Suys. The park was most recently renovated between 2000 and 2002.^[1]

Buildings and monuments

The Brussels Park is home to several public buildings and monuments:^[1]

• the Théâtre Royal du Parc (Dutch: Parktheater), a theatre built in 1782
• the Vauxhall, a meeting and concert venue, built in the 1780s
• the wooden kiosk of the Vauxhall, built in 1913
• the cast iron music kiosk, built in 1841
• the main pond, constructed in 1855
• the octagonal pond, constructed in 1780
• several sculptures and fountains, created by sculptors including Laurent Delvaux, Gilles-Lambert Godecharle, Jean-Michel Folon and Thomas Vinçotte

Gallery

• 
  Peter the Great monument
• 
  Narcissus by Albert Desenfans

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brussels Park.