June 2017 Brussels attack

Brussels Central Station (French: Gare de Bruxelles-Central, Dutch: Station Brussel-Centraal), officially Brussels Central (French: Bruxelles-Central, Dutch: Brussel-Centraal), is a railway and metro station in central Brussels, Belgium. It is the second busiest railway station in Belgium and one of three principal railway stations in Brussels, together with Brussels-South and Brussels-North. First completed in 1952 after protracted delays caused by economic difficulties and World War II, it is the newest of Brussels' main rail hubs. Brussels Central is connected to the Gare Centrale/Centraal Station station on lines 1 and 5 of the Brussels Metro system, and serves as an important node of the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company (STIB/MIVB).

The Putterie (French) or Putterij (Dutch) is a former quarter located in central Brussels, Belgium. The district was centred around Saint Mary Magdalene's Church between the Rue de la Montagne/Bergstraat, the Rue de la Madeleine/Magdalenastraat and the current Boulevard de l’Impératrice/Keizerinlaan. It was largely destroyed starting in the 1920s with the works of the North–South connection, a major railway link through central Brussels, to develop the area for Brussels-Central railway station and other modern office buildings. Many historic structures were lost in the demolition process.Some of the area was redeveloped in the 1980s and 1990s with varying degrees of success, with buildings in the New Classical architecture and the New Brick Renaissance style, following the principles of New Urbanism and the European Urban Renaissance. The name of the street has survived to this day.

The Royal Library of Belgium (French: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Dutch: Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, abbreviated KBR and sometimes nicknamed Albertine in French or Albertina in Dutch) is the national library of Belgium. The library has a history that goes back to the age of the Dukes of Burgundy. In the second half of the 20th century, a new building was constructed on the Mont des Arts in central Brussels, near the Central Station. The library owns several collections of historical importance, like the famous Fétis archives, and is the depository for all books ever published in Belgium or abroad by Belgian authors. There are four million bound volumes in the Royal Library, including a rare book collection numbering 45,000 works. The library has more than 700,000 engravings and drawings, 150,000 maps and plans, and more than 250,000 objects, from coins to scales to monetary weights. This coin collection holds one of the most valuable coins in the field of numismatics, a fifth-century Sicilian tetradrachm. The library also houses the Center for American Studies, a rich American Studies collection of 30,000 books in open stacks, as well as U.S. newspapers and databases.The Royal Library is open for reference only. Patrons must be at least eighteen years of age and must pay an annual membership fee.

The Equestrian Statue of Albert I (French: Statue équestre d'Albert I, Dutch: Ruiterstandbeeld van Albert I) is a bronze equestrian statue erected in Brussels, Belgium, in memory of King Albert I, third King of the Belgians. It was created by the sculptor Alfred Courtens in 1951.The statue stands on the Place de l'Albertine/Albertinaplein, at the point where the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg joins the Boulevard de l'Empereur/Keizerslaan, and a few tens of metres from the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR). This area is served by Brussels Central Station.

The Mont des Arts (French, pronounced [mɔ̃dɛzaʁ]) or Kunstberg (Dutch, pronounced [ˈkʏnzdbɛr(ə)x] (listen)), meaning "Hill/Mount of the Arts", is an urban complex and historic site in central Brussels, Belgium, including the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), the National Archives of Belgium, the Square – Brussels Meeting Centre, and a public garden. This site is located between the Rue Montagne de la Cour/Hofbergstraat and the Place Royale/Koningsplein in its "upper" part, and the Boulevard de l'Empereur/Keizerslaan and the Place de l'Albertine/Albertinaplein in its "lower" part. It is served by Brussels Central Station.

The Granvelle Palace (French: Palais Granvelle, Dutch: Granvellepaleis) was a 16th-century Renaissance palace in Brussels, Belgium. It was originally built for Cardinal Archbishop Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle and was located in the former Putterie/Putterij district, between the Rue des Sols/Stuiversstraat and the Rue de l'Impératrice/Keizerinstraat, near today's Brussels Central Station. The deeply redesigned Granvelle Palace served as the main seat of the Free University of Brussels between 1842 and 1928. It was demolished in 1931 to make way for the North–South connection, a major railway link through central Brussels. The Ravenstein Gallery was built on its site.

Square – Brussels Convention Centre (previously Square – Brussels Meeting Centre) is the name of a convention centre in Brussels, Belgium. It is run by the GL Events group and situated in cultural and historic district of Brussels near the national and international institutions, overlooking the city from the hillside of the Mont des Arts.

The Bortier Gallery (French: Galerie Bortier, Dutch: Bortiergalerij) is a shopping arcade designed by Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer. It was constructed in 1847 and opened in the following year. It is situated in the centre of the City of Brussels between the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg and the Grand Place/Grote Markt, not far from the more monumental Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries. Proprietor is the City of Brussels and it is managed by its Land Administration services. The gallery is built in a Neo-Renaissance style and is a fine example of the joint use of cast iron and glass. Originally, the mall was a part of the Marché de la Madeleine/Magdalenamarkt complex, a covered market also designed by Cluysenaer. The facade on the rue de la Madeleine in a Flemish baroque style antedates the construction of the mall behind it. This front dates from 1763 and was recuperated from the Hôtel des Grandes Messageries a town house situated at that site. The gallery owes its name to an investor named Pierre Bortier, who had acquired land between the Rue Duquesnoy and the Rue Saint-Jean/Sint-Jansstraat, made available by the demolition of the former Hôpital Saint-Jean/Sint-Janshospitaal. He proposed to the city of Brussels to build the Marché de la Madeleine/Magdalenamarkt. This covered market had its main entrance at the Rue Duquesnoy. Starting from the Hôtel des Grandes Messageries, located at the Rue de la Madeleine the gallery passed along the rounded southern end of the market hall on the level of its first floor, and ended in the Rue Saint-Jean/Sint-Jansstraat. The Madeleine market was demolished in 1957 and replaced by a modern event hall, leaving only the original facade in place. The Bortier Gallery was thus detached from the market building. Very degraded, it was renovated in 1974 and again around 2010. The place is now well known to lovers of literature and old books, being almost entirely occupied, with the exception of an art gallery, with stalls and second-hand booksellers. Jean-Baptiste Moens, known as the father of philately ran a shop in the Bortier Gallery from 1853 onwards.

Brussels Protestant Church (French: Église Protestante de Bruxelles, Dutch: Brusselse protestantse kerk) is a Brussels-based Protestant Christian congregation formally constituted in 1804 and whose roots go back to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

The Palace of Charles of Lorraine (French: Palais de Charles de Lorraine, Dutch: Paleis van Karel van Lotharingen) is a neoclassical palace in the Royal Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. Its construction started in 1757 to serve as the residence of the Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, replacing the Palace of Orange-Nassau. It currently houses a museum, part of the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR). Located on what is now the Place du Musée/Museumplein, the palace lies atop the Coudenberg hill, not far from the Place Royale/Koningsplein and the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg, as well as nearby institutions such as the Royal Palace of Brussels and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. This area is served by Brussels Central Station, as well as by the metro stations Parc/Park (on lines 1 and 5) and Trône/Troon (on lines 2 and 6).

The Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries (French: Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, Dutch: Koninklijke Sint-Hubertusgalerijen) is an ensemble of glazed shopping arcades in central Brussels, Belgium. Designed and built by architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer between 1846 and 1847, they precede other famous 19th-century European shopping arcades such as the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (Italy) and The Passage in St Petersburg (Russia). Like them, they have twin regular facades with distant origins in Vasari's long narrow street-like courtyard of the Uffizi in Florence, with glazed arched shopfronts separated by pilasters and two upper floors, all in an Italianate Cinquecento style, under an arched glass-paned roof with a delicate cast-iron framework.

The North–South connection (French: Jonction Nord-Midi, Dutch: Noord-Zuidverbinding) is a railway link of national and international importance through the centre of Brussels, Belgium, that connects the major railway stations in the city. It is line 0 (zero) of the Belgian rail network. With 1200 trains a day, it is the busiest railway line in Belgium and the busiest railway tunnel in the world. It has six tracks and is used for passenger trains, or rarely for a maintenance train when work is to be done on the railway infrastructure inside the North-South connection itself, but not for freight trains. It is partially underground (around Brussels Central Station) and partially raised above street level.