Cinquantenaire

At the Brussels International Exposition of 1910, a section on military history was presented to the public and met with great success. Given the enthusiasm of the population, the authorities created a military museum within the international context of extreme tension which led to the Great War. The museum was originally installed on the site of La Cambre Abbey and moved to the Cinquantenaire Park in 1923.

The museum's collection originally consisted of approximately 900 pieces collected by the officer Louis Leconte following the Great War. Leconte collected considerable equipment abandoned by the Germans in 1918. The collection was later heavily enriched by legacies, gifts and exchanges. Today, the museum displays uniforms, weapons, vehicles and military equipment of all ages and all countries.

The north wing, built by Gideon Bordiau, has been occupied by the aviation hall since 1972, when the Air and Space gallery was inaugurated. The collection includes various types of aircraft, both military and civilian, some dating to the early 20th century, whilst the most recent additions include a F-16 Fighting Falcon and Westland Sea King. The collection as a whole is one of the largest in the world.

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  Entrance to the Military Museum in the northern Bordiau Hall
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  The aviation section in the North Hall

The Art & History Museum is an art and history museum which occupies most of the southern part of the complex. It is one of the constituents of the Royal Museums for Art and History (RMAH), which itself is part of the Belgian federal institute of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO).

The museum consists of several parts, which includes a national collection of artifacts from prehistory to the Merovingian period (c. 751 AD), as well as a collection of artifacts from classical antiquity of the Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Artifacts from non-European civilisations, such as China, Japan, Korea, pre-Columbian America, and the Islamic world, are also on display. Additionally, a collection of European decorative arts includes pieces from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, such as sculptures, furniture, tapestries, textiles, costumes, old vehicles, etc.

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  The Art & History Museum's dome in the south-western part of the complex
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  Classical antiquity collection
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  Islamic art collection
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  American collection

AutoWorld is a vintage car museum which occupies the southern hall of the complex. It holds a large and varied collection of 350 oldtimers, European and American automobiles from the late 19th century to the 1990s. These include Minervas, a 1928 Bentley, a 1930 Bugatti and a 1930 Cord, and several limousines belonging to the Belgian royal family.

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  Entrance to the Palais Mondial (South Hall), housing AutoWorld
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  View of AutoWorld's collection in the South Hall

The Great Mosque of Brussels is the seat of the Islamic and Cultural Centre of Belgium.

The Great Mosque of Brussels is located in the north-western corner of the park. It is the oldest mosque in Brussels, and is the seat of the Islamic and Cultural Centre of Belgium. The latter operates a school and an Islamic research centre. The centre provides courses of Arabic to adults and children, as well as initiations to Islam.

The original building was constructed in 1880 by architect Ernest Van Humbeeck in an Arabic style, to form the east pavilion of the National Exhibition. For the exhibition, the pavilion housed a monumental fresco, “Panorama of Cairo,” which was a major success. Insufficient funds for maintenance during the period of the world wars caused the building to gradually deteriorate.

In 1967, during an official visit to Belgium from King Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, King Baudouin decided to adapt the building as a place of worship. The mosque, designed by Tunisian architect Mongi Boubaker, was inaugurated in 1978 in the presence of Khalid ibn Abd al-Aziz and Baudouin.