Brussels
Belgium's capital and the heart of the European Union
Brussels punches far above its size as the de facto capital of the European Union. Behind the gilded baroque guild houses of the Grand-Place — one of the most ornate market squares in Europe — sits the glass-and-steel quarter where the European Commission and Parliament shape the rules of a continent. Officially bilingual in French and Dutch and thoroughly international, the Belgian capital of around two million is a city of diplomats and bureaucrats, comic-strip murals, chocolate shops, and a famously self-deprecating wit.
The city lies in the low, gently rolling country of central Belgium, drained by the small Senne River, which has been largely covered over and built upon. Elevation ranges from around 15 metres in the valley to over 100 metres in the wooded Sonian Forest on the southeastern edge, with the upper town and lower town giving Brussels its characteristic split-level geography. A mild, damp maritime climate brings frequent rain and grey skies, and generous parks and the great forest soften the dense urban core.
Brussels began as a tenth-century fortified settlement on the Senne and grew into a prosperous Burgundian and Habsburg town famous for its tapestries and lace. It became capital of independent Belgium in 1831 and, after the Second World War, the headquarters of the institutions that became the European Union and of NATO. Today Brussels is Belgium's capital, the political center of the EU, and a crossroads where the Germanic and Latin worlds of Europe meet.