Congress Column

The Rue Royale (French, "Royal Street") or Koningsstraat (Dutch, "King's Street") is a street in Brussels, Belgium, running through the municipalities of Schaerbeek, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode and the City of Brussels. It is limited to the south by the Place Royale/Koningsplein in the city centre and to the north by the Place de la Reine/Koninginplein in Schaerbeek. Several places of interest lie along the Rue Royale, for instance the Royal Palace, the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels Park, the Congress Column, the Botanical Garden of Brussels, Le Botanique concert hall and Saint Mary's Royal Church. In addition, many companies have offices on the street, for instance Accenture and BNP Paribas Fortis as well as the French-speaking Community of Belgium. Two metro stations can be accessed from the Rue Royale: Parc/Park metro station and Botanique/Kruidtuin metro station. The street is continued to the north by the Rue Royale Sainte-Marie/Koninklijke Sinte-Mariastraat and to the south by the Rue de la Régence/Regentschapsstraat. It also crosses the Small Ring at the Botanique crossroad.

The Corinthia Grand Hotel Astoria, formerly the Hotel Astoria, is a five-star luxury hotel in the Freedom Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. Built in 1909 for the Brussels International Exposition of 1910, in a true Parisian spirit, the hotel's Louis XVI facade and majestic interior lend it a distinctly aristocratic appearance. It is considered among the finest luxury hotels in the world, and has served as a famous meeting place for kings and other great statesmen and world personalities. The hotel is located at 101–103, rue Royale/Koningsstraat, not far from the Congress Column and Brussels Park. This area is served by Brussels-Congress railway station, the metro stations Parc/Park (on lines 1 and 5) and Botanique/Kruidtuin (on lines 2 and 6), as well as the tram stop Congrès/Congres on lines 92 and 93.

Brussels-Congress railway station (French: Gare de Bruxelles-Congrès, Dutch: Station Brussel-Congres), officially Brussels-Congress (French: Bruxelles-Congrès, Dutch: Brussel-Congres) is a train stop on the North–South connection in the City of Brussels, Belgium. It is located at 25, Boulevard Pacheco/Pachecolaan, near the State Administrative City. Opened in 1952, it served as a railway station for 50 years. In 2002, the ticket offices closed and it was downgraded to a train stop. With only few passengers a day using Brussels-Congress, plans were being made to close it completely. However, up to now, none has been executed.

The Cirque Royal (French) or Koninklijk Circus (Dutch) is an entertainment venue in Brussels, Belgium. Conceived by architect Wilhelm Kuhnen, the building has a circular appearance but in fact is constructed as a regular polygon. It can hold 3500 spectators, and nowadays is primarily used for live music shows.

The Schaerbeek Gate (French: Porte de Schaerbeek; Dutch: Schaarbeeksepoort) was one of the medieval city gates of the second walls of Brussels, Belgium.

The Finance Tower (French: Tour des Finances, Dutch: Financietoren) is a skyscraper in the Northern Quarter central business district of Brussels, Belgium, designed by the architects Hugo Van Kuyck, Marcel Lambrichs and Léon Stynen. It is the second tallest building in Belgium, and has the most office space of any building in Belgium.

The Toy Museum (French:Musée du jouet) is a museum of toys and games in Brussels, Belgium. The museum opened on 14 November 1990. The core collection was amassed by a family of amateur toy enthusiasts and has grown through donations by the public as well as purchases.The museum is housed in a former grand mansion with 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft) of exhibition space on three floors. The museum is home to over 25,000 historic toys and games, mostly from the 1950s to 1980s with oldest dating back to 1830.The Toy Museum is located at 1000 Rue de l'Association, 24 1000 Brussels.

The Marc Sleen Museum (French: Musée Marc Sleen, Dutch: Marc Sleen Museum) is a museum located in Brussels, Belgium, dedicated to the work of Belgian comics artist Marc Sleen, who is known for his series The Adventures of Nero, Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke and De Lustige Kapoentjes. It is located in front of the Belgian Comic Strip Center at 33–35, rue des Sables/Zandstraat, and is served by the Brussels-Congress railway station.

The Freedom Quarter (French: Quartier des Libertés; Dutch: Vrijheidswijk) is a quarter of Brussels, Belgium. It was traditionally known as Notre-Dame-aux-Neiges/Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ter-Sneeuw.

The Embassy of Maldives in Brussels is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of Maldives in Brussels, Belgium.As well as Belgium, the embassy is accredited to the Kingdom of Netherlands, Duchy of Luxembourg, and the European Union.It was officially opened on 27 October 2010.The current Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Embassy is Omar Abdul Razzak, who presented his credentials to King Philippe of Belgium on 30 September 2022, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands on 16 December 2022, and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on 27 January 2023.

Parc (French) or Park (Dutch) is a Brussels metro station located beneath Brussels' Park in central Brussels (Belgium). It has one entrance, at the intersection of Rue Royale/Koningsstraat and Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, two of the main roads of the City of Brussels. The station opened on 17 December 1969, as a premetro (underground tram) station on the tram line between De Brouckère and Schuman, and became a heavy metro station on 20 September 1976, serving former lines 1A and 1B. Following the reorganisation of the Brussels metro on 4 April 2009, it is served by lines 1 and 5, which cross Brussels from east to west. Several places of interest other than the park itself lie near this station: the Royal Palace, the Belgian House of Parliament (Palace of the Nation), the office of the Prime Minister of Belgium, the Royal Park Theatre, and the United States' embassy.

The Palace of the Nation (French: Palais de la Nation, Dutch: Paleis der Natie, German: Palast der Nation) is a neoclassical palace in Brussels, Belgium, housing the Belgian Federal Parliament. The palace was built from 1778 to 1783 to a neoclassical design by the French architect Gilles-Barnabé Guimard and includes sculptures by Gilles-Lambert Godecharle. Under Austrian rule, it housed the Sovereign Council of Brabant before being used as a courthouse during the French period. During the Dutch period, it was one of two homes of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the other being in The Hague. Following Belgian independence in 1830, the Provisional Government of Belgium and Belgian National Congress moved into the building and the first session of the Chamber of Representatives and Senate was held there a year later.The building stands across the street from Brussels Park's northern entrance, near the site of the former palace of the Dukes of Brabant, which was destroyed by fire in 1731, and has itself been badly damaged by fire, in 1820 and 1883. In the 1930s, a bunker was built underneath the park, connected by tunnels to the House of Parliament. This area is served by Brussels Central Station, as well as by the metro stations Parc/Park (on lines 1 and 5) and Arts-Loi/Kunst-Wet (on lines 1, 2, 5 and 6).