Palace of Charles de Lorraine

The Palace of Charles de Lorraine is one of the few surviving princely palaces in Brussels that bear witness to the Enlightenment era. Built in 1757 on the site of the old Nassau Palace, today it forms an impressive architectural group with the adjacent former Palace of National Industry on the edge of Place du Musée. The U-shaped facades are homogenous and elegant, with central projecting bays topped with pediments decorated with low-relief sculptures, and continuous string courses which emphasise the building's horizontality. The semi-circular entrance, to an ingenious design by architect Jean Faulte, is decorated with abundant sculptures by L. Delvaux which depict, in allegorical form, the essential characteristics of good government. Inside, the rotunda has a superb marble floor, decorated with a rose made up of 28 different types of Belgian marble. The five reception rooms of the prince's summer apartment are laid out with one leading to another, and each is sumptuously decorated with marble mantlepieces, gilded stucco and valuable tapestries hung on the walls.