12. Palace of the Nation

The home of the Belgian Federal Parliament is a Neoclassical ensemble built between 1778 and 1783 as the centrepiece of the architectural composition forming the northern side of the Royal Park. It is laid out on a U-shaped plan around a courtyard and set on the axis of the central north-south path through the Park, thus closing the view from the Royal Palace. The first edifice on the site, the Palace of the Council of Brabant which was built to the design of architect Barnabé Guimard when Brussels was part of the Austrian Netherlands, has subsequently undergone many changes and been used for different purposes. Between 1816 and 1818, the central part of the building was converted by architect Charles Vander Straeten to house the States-General of William I; the first hemicycle was destroyed by fire in 1820 and rebuilt between 1821 and 1822. Following Belgian independence in 1831, the edifice became the Federal Parliament Building. Having again been destroyed by fire in 1883, it took architect Henri Beyaert three years to reconstruct it. Today the building houses several Belgian federal institutions, including the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. 

The visits are accessible to wheelchair users.

PLEASE NOTE: For reasons of security, individual, named reservations are required. The list of visit participants will be shared with the Parliament's administrative staff and access will only be granted upon presentation of an ID card/passport. Please arrive a few minutes before the start of your visit to allow for security checks. Please note that the entrance to be used is not the one across from the Royal Park, but rather the one located at 13, Rue de Louvain.