Brussels apart from other things is also famous fop a huge and eclectic collection of museums. According to the information of tourism bureau of Brussels there are around 89 museums in the city propagated by the tourism information bureau and there are also many small museums are also situated in the city like the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate. However, here is given a brief of some of the important museums and galleries in Brussels.

• Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique: This museum illustrates both historical as well as modern art kept within a single premise. The huge museum spread across several buildings consisted of the Musée d’Art Ancien-Museum voor Oude Kunst and the Musée d’Art Moderne-Museum voor Moderne Kunst all under single roof. This museum shows art work from most of the Belgium mostly from the 14th to the 20th century. It has Hans Memling’s portraits from the late 15th century, showing off acute lifelike details, works by Hiëronymus Bosch, and Lucas Cranach’s Adam and Eve. Next to this in a circular building connected to the main entrance, the modern art section with and an emphasis over underground works as eight floors of the museum are under ground. The collection there at museum consist work of art by Van Gogh, Matisse, Dalí, Tanguy, Ernst, Chagall, Miró, and local artist Magritte, Delvaux, De Braekeleer and Permeke.

• Musées d’Extrême-Orient: It is a complex of three buildings in the Laaken area, situated close to Atomium. The entire structure comprises a Japanese tower, a Chinese pavilion, and a museum of Japanese art. Along with other things it displays some outstanding examples of Chinese export porcelain, and revolving exhibitions of Japanese artefacts from the Edo period.

• BELvue Museum: This museum showcases Belgium’s history and before becoming a museum it was a luxury hotel and before that a royal residence.

• Natural Sciences Museum of Belgium: This museum is well-known for its famous collection of iguanodons (dinosaurs) found in a coal-mine in Belgium. The dinosaur collection has been renovated in October 2007 and now involves discovery activities for the children. The other sections of museums are also too interesting, that shows other animals that live at or in our homes with collection mammals.

• Horta Museum, Rue Américaine: This museum was home to the noted Belgian Art Nouveau architect and designer Victor Horta. This museum is a good place to learn about art nouveau style in Brussels. It is one of four Horta works that is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

• Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire (MRAH): This museum is known for having an important collection of art objects from around different civilizations from across the world. The museum was founded in is of the last remaining medieval city gates of Brussels.

• Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA): The Museum is unique in itself as it exhibits collection of ethnographic objects from Central Africa. It has an entire archive of Henry Morton Stanley that is of great historical value.

• Belgian Comic Strip Center: Situated in one of the Europe’s earliest shopping mall it treats over the earliest beginning of comics as well as its development. One can also have different cult and traditions at this museum as its reader’s library thus runs on the ground floor and on a very lower entrance fee you can read many and different comic books.

•Musée du Cinéma-Filmmuseum: This museum showcases classic and cult movies on comparatively lower prices.

• Autoworld Museum: The Autoworld museums showcases development of Automobile industry from the start of motoring age to 1970s and exhibits brands like the earlier models of Mercedes, Renaults, BMW Isettas, Tatras, Ford T-birds and other cars.

• Musical Instruments Museum: This musical house and museum has collection of more than around 7000 instruments, from all times and around all over the world. The museum primarily is popular for creating and having the largest collection of musical instrument of its type. The entire collection of musical collection is surrounded over and is shown on over four different floors of the museum. The MIM is a great place to experience and enjoy music. There in the museum is provided an infrared headphone system that let each visitor to enjoy the sound and melodies played by the instruments showcased over there. For dinning the restaurant at its roof is also famous for providing panoramic view of Brussels. You need time period of around 3 or 4 hours in order to enjoy the entire museum.

• Musée Magritte Museum: This museum dedicated to the life and art of the Belgian artist René Magritte exhibits multidisciplinary collection keeping around 200 of Magritte’s works. It charges around eight euro combined with Modern & Ancient Art Museums.

• Belgian Army Museum and Museum of Military History: The Belgian Army Museum and Museum of Military History is situated at the north wing of the Palais Cinquantenaire. It gives an overview of the development of military technology and of the major military campaigns that happened on the Belgian soil. The museum has three primary sections, Belgian military history as it contains document, uniforms and weaponry from the middle Ages to the present day, involving a most illustrative collection of medieval arms and armor. The next section is Armored Vehicle Hall that keeps artillery, tanks etc. from around the two World Wars; and finally the Air Section with collection of aircraft from World War I and onwards. The original attraction of Museum is Brussels Air Museum’s as known for its collection of original aircraft from World War I.

There so much marketing and shopping options are available in Brussels that each day there looks like a shopping festival in Brussels. There is too much for a shopper in Brussels like he can enjoy his entire day without being bored. There is shopping mall, shopping streets, markets and above all is famous Belgian chocolate and beer that you can encounter during Brussels shopping.

Shopping Arcades (Malls)

Brussels is also known for the oldest shopping arcades and malls of the world and it also has many other offerings too. Different to ordinary shopping malls, galeries or arcades offer high quality brands and luxury items. Among the shopping malls in Brussels there are places like Galeries St Hubert, built in 1847, is one of the first shopping arcades in Europe. Galeries Louise and Toison d’Or is more affordable shopping mall among Brussels’ arcades. Galeries Agora, across the street from the entrance of the Galeries St Hubert is Galeries Agora.

Shopping Streets

The shopping streets in Brussels are rather picturesque and have goods with shown up for beautiful window displays. There are markets being like as the high-powered Boulevard de Waterloo, where hardly any price tags are attached and next there is Rue Neuve for the daily shopper looking at for the latest Mango, Zara or Innovation mall. Some of the popular shopping streets in Brussels are:

• Boulevard de Waterloo: It is one of the popular shopping streets in Brussels. That lies around Avenue Louise area. There you will get Louise Vuitton next to Gucci and other famous fashion brands.

• Rue Antoine Dansaert: This Street is even known for rather classical designer stores like one at Rue Antoine Dansaert. This street runs along the Boulevard du Nieuport to the Bourse (stock exchange) building. Along Rue Antoine Dansaert one can get boutique selling out the latest and most modern Belgian designs. On the side of street there are lined high buildings with beautiful facades.

• Rue Neuve: One of the longest shopping streets in Brussels, the Rue Neuve is bustling with activity on Saturday afternoons when shoppers are free from their offices to shop to their hearts content. This street is where you will find the favourite brands of Europe – Espirit, Zara, Mango, Celio, Morgan and many more. You will also find the giant Media Markt here for all your electronic needs at bargain prices.

Brussels Markets

For the residents of Brussels, the Brussels markets are indeed are great place to having shopping at any day of the week. There are around hundreds of open markets there in Brussels that operates through out the small squares of the city. These small markets serve up fresh vegetables, handmade cheese, freshly chopped meat and utensils and articles for the home. Some popular markets of Brussels are:

• Gare du Midi: It is a huge market situated along the exit of Gare du Midi which operates on Sundays during 6am to 1pm. The market is entirely filled with delicacies from around the European region. Here you get fresh vegetables, olives, roasts, and fresh cheeses. There crowds of people walk slowly, browsing the vegetables and fruits, getting free samples and carrying their shop trolleys along them.

• Marolles: Generally, Marolles is known for the working class citizens of Brussels and it holds out the charm and character of the city. There a flea market is too situated there at Place du Jeu de Balle which opens daily from 7am to 1pm.

• Sablon: This area is not only recognized for its huge church but also for its antique shops and weekend markets that there stores some hidden gems. There on can watch out beautiful displays of antiques and finish off with some treasure hunting at the markets.

• Chatelain: This market opens during the afternoon and early evening on Wednesday nights. This is the market precisely for office goers that come there to after office to procure goods and items. The main items as being sold out at this place are fresh delicacies, meats, cheeses and flowers.

Buying Belgian Chocolate: One of the exciting shopping experiences in Belgium is buying its Belgian chocolate that is next to Swiss chocolates. They are rated as some of the best chocolates of the world. As Belgians take pride in making chocolates, therefore, there entire affections get developed into their chocolates. There around thousands of varieties of chocolates are found in Brussels. As far as procuring out Belgian Chocolates, there are many places where you can purchase them out. There are many souvenir shops along the Grand Place (Grote Markt) that sells out Belgian chocolates which are sold out at good discounted prices and rates. Another place to buy out the exciting chocolates there it is chocolaterie shop. There you get a counter filled with chocolates and some empty gift boxes stacked up on the counter with different prices. Other type of chocolate that you can buy out is Pralines that means filled chocolate that is meant as butter cream, fruits creams and nut pastes or nuts. Another type of chocolates there is Pralines that remains stuffed with filled chocolate, butter cream, fruit creams, almond and nut pastes or nuts. A truffle is a powdery chocolate made from ganache with a solid or cocoa powder shell. Another chocolate sweetener is Gianduja that are pure almond and nut paste shaped into small rectangular blocks and wrapped with gold paper.

Buying Souvenirs: As far as procuring out souvenirs there primarily are available two types of souvenirs to purchase out in Brussels. One is food and beverage and other is novelty trinkets. These souvenirs can be procured at the narrow pedestrian streets which lead to the Grand Place (Grote Markt) from all directions. For the case of beverage Belgian beers are great to be offered as gifts to take home are available can be purchased out supermarkets, bigger as well as smaller ones.

Being as capital of Belgium, Brussels undoubtedly is a place filled with a good number of places of attractions and landmarks as to lure travelers towards it. Brussels is the city filled with amazement and a number of attractions and there is something for everyone who is touring through the city. In order to better understand city of Brussels you can better learn about the city by touring landmarks existing there.

•    Grand Place: The Grand Place is a central square of Brussels situated at city’s TownHall and the Breadhouse. The square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels situated along the Atomium and Manneken Pis. Its measurement is around 68 by 110 metres and is considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  In the 10th century, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine made a fort on Saint-Géry Island at the point, where the Senne river apparently navigable.  By the end of the 11th century, there an open-air marketplace was developed on a dried-out marsh near the fort which was surrounded by sandbanks. There a tradition developed where an enormous “flower carpet” that is set up in the Grand Place for a few days. There around a million begonias is setup in pattern shows in covers a full 24 by 77 meters.

Grand Palace

•    Parc du Cinquantenaire: Also named as Jubilee Park it is a larges urban park in the easternmost part of Brussels. Most of the building in the park as U-Shaped dominates the activities were constructed by the King Leopold II for the 1880 National Exhibition celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Belgian independence.

Its primary center of attraction is triumphal arc that was erected in 1905. The structures were made up of iron, glass and stone showed up the economic and industrial performance of Belgium. Its 30 hectare park is filled with picturesque gardens, ponds and waterfalls. It is known for organizing various fairs, exhibitions and festival of the century. The Royal Military Museum is one of the attractions of the northern complex since 1880. The southern half is currently occupied by the Cinquantenaire Art Museum and the AutoWorld Museum. The Temple of Human Passions, a remainder from 1886, and the Great Mosque of Brussels from 1978 are situated at the north western corner of the park.

•    Quartier Royal: Once this huge mansion type building was used as the residential palace of Belgian Royalty yet presently the case is totally different. Entire building Quartier Royal with grand and handsome grounds was destroyed by a fire in 1731 before the buildings were reconstructed in the 19th century.
The Quartier Royal now houses the Palais Royal, Palais de la Nation and Palais des Academies. The Palais Royal is the largest of the palaces within Quartier Royal and is a fine throne room. For public viewing it remains open to the public in between from July and September and is worth visiting.

•    Cathedrale Sts Michel et Gudule: The St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church at the Treurenberg hill in Brussels, Belgium. In 1047, Lambert II, Count of Leuven founded a chapter in this church and organized the transportation of the relics of Saint Gudula. In the thirteenth century, the cathedral was renovated to the Gothic style. There in the church the choir was constructed between 1226 and 1276 and the entire façade was completed around mid-fifteenth century. It is situated in the national capital and so mostly used as in Catholic ceremonies of national interest like royal marriages and state funerals.

cathedrale stsmiche let gudule

•    Palais d’Egmont: This is a very huge mansion at the  the Wolstraat / Rue aux Laines and the Kleine Zavel / Petit Sablon in Brussels, Belgium. Presently in the building there is situated Belgian ministry if foreign affairs. It was constructed by Françoise of Luxembourg and her son, Lamoral, Count of Egmont, first in Flemish Gothic style, later Renaissance in 1848 and 1860. However, in 1891the entire building was reconstructed in uniform classical style. Presently this building is used for receptions and meetings by the Belgian Ministry of foreign affairs.

Palais de egmont

•    Le Sablon District: The Grand Sablon is at the center of antique dealer’s district and is filled with enough activities containing famous antiques and book market. The rue de la Régence as laid in the 19th century, leads one to the Royal Fine Arts Museums. This artistically rich city is divided into two parts, The Museum of Ancient Art provides an excellent choice of paintings from the Master of the 14th and 15th century “Primitive School”.

•    Atomium: It is a structure that was made during the Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels World Fair and was designed by Ander Waterkeyn, this is around 102 meters tall structure, with nine spheres connected around the entire structure and form it shows an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes connecting the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and all eight vertices to center enclose the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and all eight vertices to the centre. Each vertex there is about 18 meters in diameter.

Atomium