Novotel Hotel Brussels and surroundings

At Brussels' heart is the restaurant centre of the "lIôt Sacré", which is also very attractive for a stroll. The architect Jan-Pieter Cluysenaer led the building of the Saint Hubert Gallery between 1846 and 1847, which is a continuation of the Queen's and King's Galleries (Galeries du Roi et de la Reine). It is 1200 m. long. The claim has been made that is was the first covered shopping street in Europe. It is still busy because of its theatre, cinema, restaurants and good shops of Brussels.

A pause at the new fountain at the bottom of the Rue de la Montagne affords a good view of the well-restored stepped gables before you.

The Colonne du Congrès (Pillar of Congress) was erected between 1850 and 1859 by the architect Joseph Poelaert as a memorial to the National Congress which after 1830 created the Belgian Constitution. Leopold 1 posed the first stone of this 47metre high pillar in 1850 and his statue, as first King of the Belgians, topsit.

The platform gives a splendid view over the lower parts of the town. A symbolical representation of the freedoms assured by the constitution : freedom of worship (front, left) by Simonis, freedom of association (right), by Fraikin, freedom of the press (Rue de Ligne side) and freedom of education, both by Geefs, decorate its plinth.

On November 22, 1922, King Albert 1 presided over a moving ceremony during which the remains of the Unknown Soldier were placed here. From then onwards a ceremony has taken place every year on November 11, in the presence of the royal family. Behind the Pillar of Congress rise the majority of government offices.

Right besides the Gallery and 100m from Grand Palais, Central Railway Station, Congress and the Sablon historical district, the Hotel Novotel Brussels Grand Place is an international hotel including 20 executives and 2 for disabled guests.

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The Jardin Botanique has been obliged to give up half its ground for the construction of the road tunnel which starts at the Rogier place. At the top of the garden the Forestry Museum houses an extensive collection of vegetable oils and types of wood. A specialized Library in the Herbarium contains examples of dried plants from ail over the world.

The Parc Royal (Warande), or Brussels' Park, lies between the Royal Palace, the Parliament buildings and the Hotels district. It was created in 1787 by Joachim Zinner and is 26 acres in area. It is completely symmetrical. The walks are decorated with pleasing statues and the two lakes give children a chance to sail their boats.

The Parliament Building, or Palace of the Nation, was completed in 1783. It was then occupied by the Sovereign Council of Brabant which had judicial, political and law giving powers. It was removed at the end of the "Ancien Régime". The Transitional Government after the revolution of 1830 met in the same building and it received its present function at the first sitting of the National Congress in the same year. The chamber for the Senate was only ready in 1850.

The front was planned by the architect Godecharle: eight modern Ionic columns support a pediment with a bas-relief depicting "justice rewarding virtue and punishing vice".

At the further side of the park stands the Royal Palace. The building consisted at the end of the eighteenth century of two pavilions divided by a street which prolonged the central lane in the park. King William I of the Netherlands joined the two buildings by a gallery.

Unfortunately, there are no hotels in front of the parliament, nor around the Central Park.