Leopold Park

Parc Léopold (in French)
Leopoldspark (in Dutch)
The pond with the European Parliament building in the background
Type Public park
Location Brussels, Belgium
Coordinates 50°50′18″N 4°22′48″E / 50.83833°N 4.38000°E / 50.83833; 4.38000Coordinates: 50°50′18″N 4°22′48″E / 50.83833°N 4.38000°E / 50.83833; 4.38000
Area 6 ha (43 acres)
Created c. 1880

Parc Léopold (French) or Leopoldspark (Dutch) is a public park located within the Leopold Quarter (European Quarter) of Brussels, adjacent to the Paul-Henri Spaak building, the seat of the European Parliament.[1] [2]

The 10 hectares (25 acres) park was opened to the public in 1880 after the unpopular Royal Zoological Garden (Jardin Royal de Zoologie) had been removed. During the following years, a campus for the famous Solvay School of Commerce was established in the park but construction of additional buildings was soon curtailed for fear of encroachment on the park and its fragile wildlife. The buildings have remained to this day but only one still belongs to Solvay (and houses the Solvay Conference). The building of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences is also located in the park.[3]

The Solvay Library is also located in the park and houses the Security & Defence Agenda, Friends of Europe and Maison d'Europe think tanks. In 2017, the House of European History, a history museum, opened in the refurbished Eastman Building.[4]

The outstanding feature of the park is its pond, fed by the Maalbeek stream. Many rare trees (remnants of a botanic garden) and animals such as mallards, moorhens, coots, and even Egyptian geese and rose-ringed parakeets thrive in this urban environment.

Accessibility

This park is served by the metro stations Maalbeek/Maelbeek and Schuman on lines 1 and 5 of the Brussels metro.

References

  1. ↑ "Leopold Park". brussels.be. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "LEOPOLD PARK". sustainablecity.be. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "Leopoldpark". europe-cities.com. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "About The Bibliothèque Solvay". eua.be. Retrieved 18 March 2014.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.