What do you think when someone says ‚Brussels’? It is not a simple question because there are a lot of different words that come to mind about Brussels. This article will point out some interesting facts about the city.

Brussels is the headquarters of the king and the Belgian parliament. What is more, there are also headquarters of important international institutions, such as: NATO (since 1967), Euratom, the European Union’s organizations (such as European Commission since 1958) as well as several smaller international organizations. It is the capital of Europe. It is the most popular destination in Belgium.

One of the first things that is noticed by the holidaymakers who arrive in the capital of Belgium is bilingualism. It means that all names of streets or offices, information boards, road signs, official announcements and even advertisements are written in two languages: French that is used by the vast majority, about 85-90% of the population and Flemish that is spoken only by about 10- 15% of citizens. However, there are four languages in Belgium: French, German, Flemish and Walloon – three of them are also the official languages. Each language group has separate schools, universities and the entertainment zones.

The most important symbol of Brussels is the figure of a naked and pissed boy called Manneken Pis. Although the original stone-made sculpture from the 15th century was stolen, it was soon replaced by the monument you can see at present. However, not everyone knows that there is other interesting sculpture that is called- Jeanneke Pis, meaning „pissing girl”. The sculpture is located on the other side of the market square. However, the female monument was constructed much later- in 1987. Both fountains are willingly visited by tourists and they are surrounded by bars for safety.

Belgium is well-known for chocolate and Brussels is a definitely the most important place when it comes to the chocolate. The city centre is full of charming shops that sell fantastic, hand-made chocolate pralines of amazing shapes and flavours.

When it comes to landmarks of the city, it is worth to mention Atomium that is an enlarged model of an iron crystal. The Atomium was constructed for the World Expo exhibition in 1958. The building consists of 9 spheres connected with 20 corridors. Next to Atomium is placed another important sight of Brussels- Mini Europe. It is a miniature models park where are demonstrated the most significant European architectural objects.