Leopold Park

Parc Léopold (French)
Leopoldspark (Dutch)

The pond with the European Parliament building in the background
Type Public park
Location Brussels, Belgium
Coordinates 50°50′18″N 4°22′48″E / 50.83833°N 4.38000°E / 50.83833; 4.38000Coordinates: 50°50′18″N 4°22′48″E / 50.83833°N 4.38000°E / 50.83833; 4.38000
Area 6 hectares, 43 acres
Created 18 November 1976

Parc Léopold (French) or Leopoldspark (Dutch) is a public park located within the Leopold Quarter (European Quarter) of Brussels, adjacent to the Paul-Henri Spaak building, the seat of the European Parliament.[1] [2]

The 10-hectare (25 acre) park was opened to the public in 1880 after the unpopular Royal Zoological Garden (Jardin Royal de Zoologie) had been removed. During the following years, a campus for the famous Solvay School of Commerce was established in the park but construction of additional buildings was soon curtailed for fear of encroachment on the park and its fragile wildlife. The buildings have remained to this day but only one still belongs to Solvay (and houses the Solvay Conference). The building of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences is also located in the park.[3]

The Library of Solvay is also located in the park and houses the think tanks Security & Defence Agenda, Friends of Europe and Maison d'Europe. A House of European History will also be housed by the Eastman building from 2014.[4]

The outstanding feature of the park is its pond, fed by the Maalbeek stream. Many rare trees (remnants of a botanic garden) and animals such as mallards, moorhens, coots, and even Egyptian geese and rose-ringed parakeets thrive in this urban environment.

References

  1. "Leopold Park". brussels.be. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  2. "LEOPOLD PARK". sustainablecity.be. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  3. "Leopoldpark". europe-cities.com. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  4. "About The Bibliothèque Solvay". eua.be. Retrieved 18 March 2014.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, July 25, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.