Koba Samurkasov/Dreamstime.com Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the seat of the European Union. That makes it a hub of international governance and business, and the city shows its cosmopolitanism through its architecture.

　　Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, edited by Mark Irving (2016). Writers’ names appear in parentheses.

　　The focus of the city’s Grand Place, Brussels Town Hall is perhaps the most significant secular building constructed in the Brabantine Gothic style. The principal facade of the building is arranged to face the square and is centered on a massive, 315-foot-high (96 m) bell tower, at the base of which is the building’s main entrance. The overall design, which included a lower bell tower, is attributed to Jacob van Thienen and dates to the early 1400s. Expansion of the town hall was begun from 1444, when the ten-year-old duke Charles the Bold officiated at a foundation ceremony for the enlargement, which was designed and supervised by the city architect Herman de Voghele. A final phase, completed in 1455, was overseen by Jan van Ruysbroek, the court architect of Philip the Good, and included the extension of the bell tower and the addition of a rich crowning portion to the octagonal tower in the Flamboyant style. A 16-foot-high (5 m) gilt bronze sculpture of St. Michael tops the tower.

　　In spite of this complex building history, and the vicissitudes that saw the building gutted in various military events (it was sacked during the French Revolution), the town hall offers a unified and impressive facade to the city. Serried ranks of Gothic arcading articulate an open ground-floor gallery, which is imitated on two successive stories of cross-mullioned windows, topped by crenellations, and a steeply pitched roof with dormer windows. The entire facade is encrusted with lively figural sculpture representing nobles (some of whose houses were demolished to make way for the palace), saints, and allegorical figures. It is the continuous nature of this decorative scheme that helps bind together the facade into an ordered whole. (Fabrizio Nevola)

　　The Palace of Justice was the largest building constructed in the world during the 19th century. It is 344 feet (105 m) high, has a footprint of 525 by 492 feet (160 by 150 m), covers 853,000 square feet (79,246 sq m), and contains eight courtyards, 27 large courtrooms, and 245 smaller rooms. The building looms even larger by virtue of the fact that it was built on the hill above an area previously known as the Gallows Field—where criminals were executed.

　　The design of the building was the subject of a competition in 1860, but when there were no declared winners, King Leopold II awarded the relatively unknown architect Joseph Poelaert the project in 1861. The style of the building, eclectic and grandiose, is typical of much late-19th century official architecture in Europe. The building has variously, and confusingly, been described as Assyrian, Byzantine, Roman, and Neo-Gothic.

　　The project seemed somewhat cursed from the beginning, suffering such delays that Poelaert did not live to see it finished. Once completed in 1883, the building work had overrun the original budget six times. Further controversy was provoked when, in order to clear the site for construction, a section of the neighborhood of Marolles was demolished, causing much ill feeling. A café that later opened in the neighborhood was called De Scheve Architect, meaning “the crooked architect.“

　　The Palace of Justice was one of Adolf Hitler’s favorite buildings, and in September 1944 German soldiers retreating from the city were ordered to burn it down. They managed only to collapse the dome, which was rebuilt even higher after the war. (Rob Wilson)

　　Hôtel Tassel is the elegant work of Belgian Art Nouveau architect and artist Victor Horta. Ghent-born Horta’s work represents a landmark in world architectural history, introducing the decorative style and developing the use of free forms in architecture. Hôtel Tassel, completed in 1893, is his first mature Art Nouveau structure, incorporating hints of the French Gothic Revival influence and setting the pace for the style.

　　The two-story structure is located in the center of the Belgian capital, and it was designed and built for geometry professor Émile Tassel on a narrow and deep site. A finely detailed urban house, Hôtel Tassel has an articulated facade defined around centered, stacked, bay windows with a top balcony. The architect used regularly curved forms, strongly believing in their practicality rather than seeing them as merely ornamental. He also experimented with glass and steel, both in the free-flowing interiors and in the house’s purpose-designed furniture. The facade is almost Neoclassical in appearance, but the balcony section’s oblique form suggests its decorative influences. Expressive, nature-inspired designs are found in the warm-colored patterns on the walls and floors and in the exuberant staircase metalwork.

　　The architect fitted out the house in sumptuous style, although the revolutionary aspect of the structure lies elsewhere: in the free use of the interior space and the different-level access to the various rooms, breaking the traditional separated-room approach to residential planning. (Ellie Stathaki)

　　Maison and Atelier HortaRevolutionary Belgian architect Victor Horta designed this graceful Art Nouveau complex to serve as his house and atelier (studio). Maison Horta was constructed between 1898 and 1902, followed by a long period of renovations and alterations that brought the house to its final form; it was sold in 1919, when Horta moved to nearby Avenue Louise. This narrow town house and atelier are representative of the height of his career, showcasing his maturely perfected Art Nouveau skills.

　　A sublimely detailed organic staircase dominates the entrance, leading to the more private areas of the bow-windowed house, and is the main circulation-well connecting most of the major spaces within. Above the top of the main staircase there are a number of curvaceous skylights crafted in glass and metalwork that perfectly demonstrate the Art Nouveau decorative tendency. Horta’s nature-inspired patterns appear throughout most of the house’s fittings and furniture, ranging from balconies to doorknobs and from drainpipes to the master bed, all designed in pure Hortian style. Even though the two parts of the complex—house and studio—were conceived together and communicate from the inside, they each have their own individual character, distinguishing residential from professional space.

　　In 1969, the house and atelier became the Horta Museum; a few years later the buildings were restored and interconnected. In 2000, the Maison and Atelier Horta and Horta’s town houses—Hôtel Tassel, Hôtel Solvay, and Hôtel van Eetvelde—were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. (Ellie Stathaki)

　　Although located on a Brussels boulevard 570 miles (900 km) from Vienna, Palais Stoclet is perhaps the most iconic of all the Secession movement’s creations—not least because, as a millionaire’s private house, its lavish interior remained hidden from the public gaze after its completion. The Secession movement began when German and Austrian artists broke from academic art institutions to start their own movement. The Vienna Secession became a more restrained version of Art Nouveau style. Josef Hoffman designed the house for Adolphe Stoclet, who allowed Hoffmann and the artist-craftsmen of his newly established Wiener Werkstätte to create complete interiors in which the design of every object was part of the whole. With its marble cladding, bronze edgings, and cascading composition of towers, the exterior of the house, which was completed in 1911, is geometrically complex but comparatively restrained; although, in a dramatic statement, four huge figures by sculptor Franz Metzner stand atop the soaring tower. This is Arts and Crafts with a distinctly Modernist twist. The interior is awash with precious stones and metals, opulent veneers and enamels. The dining room is decorated with one of the most astonishing of all the works of Gustav Klimt. His glittering 46-feet-wide (14 m) frieze, Fulfilment, runs in two sections around the room. The Palais Stoclet provides a field day for enthusiasts of fin-de-siècle Vienna. (Timothy Brittain-Catlin)

　　The Atomium is a giant model of a crystal molecule of metal, magnified 165 billion times. It stands 335 feet (101 m) high on the Heysel plateau close to the site of the 1958 World’s Fair, for which it was built. The structure consists of nine spheres, 59 feet (18 m) in diameter, linked by diagonal tubes 75 feet (29 m) long and 11 feet (3 m) wide. A large model was tested in a wind tunnel, which is why the “molecule” is supported by three pylons, called “bipods,” needed for stability and for emergency evacuation stairways. An elevator leads to the panoramic view at the top and escalators—the longest in Europe when built—link the spheres. Rather optimistically, one of its designers, André Waterkeyn, hoped the Atomium would “encourage young people to seek careers in the technical field or in scientific research.” Originally, some of the spheres contained scientific and medical displays. The Atomium is now seen as a relic from the time when atomic symbols were used in popular domestic designs. It was imagined the beneficent science of the Atomic Age would provide limitless, clean, and cheap energy. The Atomium’s construction dates from when Brussels was rebuilt after World War II and military occupation. (Aidan Turner-Bishop)

　　Rusty metal panels are normally seen as a sign of structural damage. However, Belgian architect Mario Garzaniti carefully constructed a stabilized, pre-rusted facade for an apartment building in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels.

　　The building, completed in 2003, occupies a narrow wedge-shaped site, housing a shop on the ground floor and two duplex apartments. Crammed against the firewall of its neighbors stands a slender slice of the building, which sets itself apart from the rusty hull; the internal stairs are situated here, along with the shop entrance and all facilities, stacked above each other, maximizing space for the rooms.

　　The eye-catching feature, however, is the facade. Cor-ten steel panels (which oxidize to a brown finish) are riveted to stainless-steel profiles, which are attached to the concrete core. Flexible bands between the cor-ten panels and the stainless steel prevent any further corrosion. Window shutters are incorporated into the facade, filtering the light through their vertical slits. When closed, they lie flush with the outer shell, adding to the interesting patchwork of rusty nuances.

　　With its careful detailing and its ironic references to the adjacent tenements, Garzaniti’s building forms a satisfactory architectural conclusion to the whole housing block. (Florian Heilmeyer)