The Royal Theater building is located on the edge of Brussels Park, facing the Parliament building. Constructed in 1782 by two brothers, the theatre has had an interesting history. It was originally founded as a drama school and performance space for young actors and served as an annex to the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie. Actors could gain their skills at this theatre before performing at the highly-regarded Monnaie. Interestingly, the theater was dark from the period of 1807 to 1814 due to Napoleon’s decree on theatres, which essentially limited theatre performances to a set number of venues. Other incarnations included vaudeville, comedies, opera, operetta, and classic theatre productions put on by Parisian or Dutch actors. During World War I, the theatre served as the entertainment hub for the German troops that were occupying the country. It was not until after World War I that the theatre gained a strong Belgian identity. The theatre has experience several remodels through time, including an extensive renovation in 2000. Fortunately, these renovations have maintained the fine architectural characteristics of the building.

The Royal Park, also known as Brussels Park, is the largest public park in the City. It is surrounded by key buildings, including the Royal Palace of Brussels and the Belgian parliament building. The park serves as a cultural hub of the city and free parties, concerts and events are organized in the park in the summer. In 1830, the Royal Park was the site of a significant event that led to Belgian independence. The revolutionary army clashed with the Dutch army in the park to send the message that the Belgians wanted to break their union with Holland and the Dutch king. The revolutionists succeeded and on September 27, 1830 the new state of Belgium was created. The Royal Park sits where the medieval court of Brabant was located. The palace dated back to the 11th century. Different park spaces have since occurred in this location. During Austrian rule, the park resembled a little forest in the city with hills and valley. Later the Austrian empress Maria-Theresia changed it into a classical style park to be enjoyed by the rich citizens of the city. Later, the park was leveled and reconstructed following very geometric plans developed by Guimard and Zinner. Classical statues were added and later important cultural buildings were constructed, including the Waux-hall music venue.

The official palace of the King of the Belgians is the Royal Palace of Brussels. It is in this location that the King exercises his duties as Head of State. It serves as the location where he grants audiences and deals with national affairs. However, the Royal Palace is not the residence of the royal family; rather, they live on the outskirts of Brussels in the Royal Castle of Laeken. The palace is situated in front of Brussels Park and is separated from the park by a long square called the Place des Palais. The present day appearance of the palace dates back to around 1900; however, the palace grounds were once part of a very old palatial complex from the Middle Ages, called Coudenberg Palace. One of the most famous pieces of the palace is located in the Mirror Room. The room features a unique ceiling and central chandelier that are adorned with wing cases from millions of Thai jewel scarab beetles. Called Heaven of Delight, the fresco took artist Jan Fabre and his team of 29 young artists over three months to complete. The fresco includes various shapes that glow in a changing greenish-blue color depending on how light hits the surface.

This imposing statue was erected in the Royal Square in 1843. It depicts Godfrey of Bouillon on a horse and was designed by Eugène Simonis. Known for being one of the leaders of the First Crusade, Bouillon was a Frankish knight born in the Brabant region of France (which is now part of Belgium). The First Crusade was called by Pope Urban II in 1096 and was meant to liberate Jerusalem and aid the Byzantine Empire. Both of these places were under attack from Muslim forces. Godfrey felt compelled to participate in the Crusade and wanted to pull together a group of knights to fight in the Holy Land. By taking out loans or selling his land outright, he was able to gather thousands of knights. He died in Jerusalem in 1100. There are differing reports of the cause of his death, from getting shot with an arrow, to contracting an illness, to getting poisoned. Godfrey of Bouillon’s legacy continues on through his appearance in classic written texts. For example he was named the hero on Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata. In The Divine Comedy the spirit of Godfrey is seen by Dante in the Heavens of Mars. Mark Twain gives a mention of Godfrey’s sword in “Innocents Abroad.”

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, is one of the most famous museums in Belgium. It is situated in the capital Brussels in the downtown area on the Coudenberg. There are four museums connected with the Royal Museum, and two of them (the Museum of Ancient Art and the Museum of Modern Art, Brussels), are in the main building. The other two (the Museum Constantin Meunier and the Antoine Wiertz Museum) are dedicated to specific Belgian artists, are much smaller, and are located at different points in the city. The Royal Museum contains over 20,000 drawings, sculptures, and paintings, which date from the early 15th century to the present. The museum has an extensive collection of Flemish painting, among them paintings by Bruegel and Rogier van der Weyden, Robert Campin, Anthony van Dyck, and Jacob Jordaens. The museum is also proud of its "Rubens Room", which houses more than 20 paintings by the artist.

The Royal Film Archive maintains one of the richest collections of cinema in the world. This is a must see for the cinophile. The Archive is dedicated to showing, preserving and restoring movies. The Royal Film Archive had its beginnings in the 1930s. Henri Strock, André Thirifay, and Piet Vermeylen started a Brussels-based film club in 1931, called the Club de l’Ecran. In 1937, the expanded their efforts and established the bilingual (French and Dutch) Cinémathèque de Belgique. This organization when on to become the present-day Royal Film Archive. The Archive houses an astounding number of materials, with over 280 million meters of film and 44,000 titles. In addition, the library has 37,000 books, 2,400 journals and over 70,000 files of press clippings dating back one hundred years. For each movie that comes out, the Archive gets four copies. One is held, along with the negatives in the archive, and the remaining three are used or lent out for noncommercial viewing. The collection grows by approximately 2,000 films per year. Up to five different films are shown daily, three with sound and two with an accompanying piano player. The biggest challenge facing the museum is securing ongoing funding and support to maintain the film archive.

The Royal Library of Belgium is a key cultural institution in Belgium with a long history. The library’s history dates back to the Dukes of Burgundy in the 800s, though it has occupied different areas through time. Its current location in the Mont des Arts area puts in adjacent to many of the important cultural institutions in Brussels. The library’s collection is eclectic. For example, the library maintains historically-important collections, including the Fétis archives. Fétis was an influential figure in Belgian music and was a computer, music teacher and critic. The library also serves as a depository for any book published in Belgium or a book published abroad by a Belgian author. In addition the library has over 200,000 maps, atlases and globes. Old books, printed as early as the 15th century, are housed in the library, as well as 35,000 manuscripts, including codices from the Middle Ages. A special Medal section is dedicated to the preservation and study of coins. The Center for American Studies is also housed in the library. The Institute is affiliated with four universities (University of Antwerp, Free University of Brussels, University of Ghent, and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) and students can earn a Masters degree in American Studies.

The Royal Galleries of Saint-Hubert are an excellent example of a covered shopping gallery that date back to 19th century. Seven of these shopping galleries were built in Brussels in between the 1820s and 1830s. The St. Hubert Gallery is one of three that still survive today. The architect for the gallery was Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar and it officially opened in 1847. The two primary sections of the gallery are called the King’s Gallery and the Queen’s Gallery. They measure 8 meters (26 feet) wide and 213 meters (699 feet) long A smaller section was dubbed the Prince’s Gallery. The concept of a gallery, such as St. Hubert, dates back to Paris in the 1780s. King Louis XIV, who was having financial problem, rented portions of his garden to shopkeepers. They constructed little shops to sell their wares. These little shops attracted many people and they became a defacto meeting place. Later, this concept of a shopping/gathering place evolved to the covered galleries, which were intended for richer classes. Today the St. Hubert Gallery has luxurious boutiques and shops as well as cafes and restaurants that offer dining in the gallery corridors. One particular stand out is the Neuhaus confectioners shop, which opened in 1857.

The Royal Monnaie Theater is the primary opera house of Belgium and has the reputation of being one of the finest opera houses in Europe due to the leadership of the past and current music directors. As it stands today, the Monnaie Theater is the actually the third theater to grace this site. The first theater in this location was the Theater of Gio-Paolo Bombarda, which was built by Venetian architects between 1695 and 1700. Prior to having a theater, the site was home to the mint. La Monnaie actually translates to “the mint”, a place where money is made. The Gio-Paolo Bombarda stood for over 100 years. In 1818, it was replaced by the theater of Louis Damesme. That theater was active for over 30 years, before it burned to the ground in 1855. Following the fire, the building was reconstructed within 14 months. The interior of the theater and the foyer were decorated in a mix of Neo-Baroque and Neo-Renaissance styles, which emphasized heavy décor like gilded decorations, red velvet, brocade and dramatic chandeliers. Since that time, additional renovations and additions have occurred to bring the theater to its current state. Today, the theater seats 1,700 people.