Laeken

Laeken (obsolete Dutch spelling, retained in French, pronunciation: [laˈkɛn]) or Laken (Dutch, pronunciation: [ˈlaːkə(n)] ( listen)) is a residential suburb in north-west Brussels in Belgium. It belongs to the municipality of the City of Brussels and is identified by the Belgian postal code : B-1020.

Buildings and key features

Monument of the Dynasty in front of the Royal Castle.

Royal Palace of Laeken

Royal Castle

The Royal Castle of Laeken, official home of the Belgian Royal Family is situated here. The castle was built between 1782-1784 by Charles de Wailly. It was partly destroyed by fire in 1890 and rebuilt and extended by Alphonse Balat. The French architect Charles Girault gave it its present outline in 1902. It has been the royal residence since the accession to the throne of King Leopold I in 1831.

Royal Greenhouses

Laeken, the Royal Greenhouses of Balat (1874-1890).

The royal castle domain also contains the magnificent greenhouses of Laeken, a set of dome-shaped constructions, accessible to the public only a few days a year. They were designed by Alphonse Balat, with the cooperation of the young Victor Horta.

Chinese Pavilion and Japanese Tower

A little north of the royal castle stand the contrasting Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese Tower. The Chinese Pavilion was commissioned by King Leopold II. The halls are designed in Louis XIV-style and Louis-XVI-style and decorated with Chinese motifs, chinaware and silverware. The Japanese Tower is a pagoda, inspired by a construction Leopold saw at the Paris Exposition of 1900. King Leopold II asked its architect Alexandre Marcel to build him a similar one in Laeken.

Church of Our Lady

A little south of the royal castle, you can find the neo-gothic Church of Our Lady, initially built as a mausoleum for queen Louise-Marie, wife of Leopold I, whose children included Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico. The architect was Joseph Poelaert, designer of the famed Brussels Palace of Justice. The church contains the royal crypt, where the members of the Belgian Royal Family are buried.

Laeken Cemetery

Crypt of the cemetery of Laeken

The cemetery behind the church is known as the "Belgian Père Lachaise" because it used to be the burial place of the rich and the famous. It harbours the graves of, among others, Fernand Khnopff and Maria Malibran and also features an original cast of Thinker by Auguste Rodin.

Other places of interest

Other places of interest in and near Laeken are the Atomium, the former goods station of Thurn and Taxis, Brupark, the King Baudouin Stadium and the Heysel exhibition park.

External links

• Megapixel view of the Royal Domain shot from the top of a nearby building
• Pictures taken in the crypt of the cemetery of Laeken