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Le Parc du Cinquantenaire
Parc du Cinquantenaire (French) or Jubilee Park (English) is an urban public park with a complex of buildings in the eastern part of the European District of Brussels, Belgium.
The park is dominated by the 1880 triumphal arch in the middle, and the horse-shoe shaped buildings surrounding the park esplanade.
Today the various buildings of the Cinquantenaire host the Royal Museums for Art and History, the Royal Army and Military History Museum and the AutoWorld automobile museum. In the summer, the esplande park is used for diverse purposes, such as military parades and drive-in movies.[citation needed] It is also the starting point of the annual 20 km of Brussels, a run with 25,000 participants, is started in the park.
The Manneken Pis
Manneken Pis is a Brussels landmark. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain’s basin.
Also known as the “Ketje de Bruxelles”, the “little boy of Brussels” is one of the city’s most cherished figures. Tourists and Belgians come to visit and laugh at this statue, which is often dressed in one of its costumes (the impressive wardrobe is on display at the “Maison du Roi/King’s House” on the Grand’Place).
Numerous legends have sprung up around this symbolic Brussels figure. The most commonly heard is the one that, by answering his famous call of nature, he reputedly extinguished the burning fuse of a bomb destined for the Grand’Place. In reality, this charming little fountain was put in place during the reign of Archiduke Albert and Archiduchess Isabelle to supply drinking water to the neighbourhood.
The Brussels Grand-Place
The Grote Markt (Dutch) or Grand-place (French) is the central market square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guild houses, the city’s Town Hall and the Bread House (Dutch: Broodhuis, French: Maison du Roi). The square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels next to the Atomium and Manneken Pis.
The Grand-Place is an exceptional example of the eclectic mix of architectural styles and artistic characteristics of the culture of society in this region. Because of the quality of its architecture and remarkable value, the Grand-Place illustrates the remarkable evolution and the success of a mercantile city in the north of Europe at its apogee of prosperity. The Grand-Place of Brussels is a homogeneous whole of private and public buildings, dating principally from the end of the 17th century. The architecture summarizes and illustrates vividly the social and cultural quality of this important political and commercial centre.