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In the middle of the nineteenth century, Leopold II extended the boundaries of Brussels east of the petit ring to incorporate the grandiloquent monuments and grassy parks he had constructed. Smart residential areas followed along with a series of museums whose large collections reflected, so the king believed, Belgium's proper position amongst the leading industrial nations. Much of Leopold's grand design has survived - and provides the district's key attractions - but today it's overlaid with the uncompromising office blocks of the EU. These high-rises coalesce hereabouts to form the loosely defined EU Quarter - properly the Quartier des Institutions Europeennes , home to the European Commission, whose civil servants support and advise the EU's ultimate decision-making body, the Brussels-based Council of Ministers, and various committees of the European Parliament (which sits in Strasbourg). To enjoy a visit to this part of the city, you'll need to follow a clear itinerary, one which avoids the worst of the EU area, where the streets groan with traffic and a vast building programme has turned whole blocks into dusty construction sites. Essentially, this means dodging - as far as possible - rues de la Loi and Belliard, the two wide boulevards that serve as the area's main thoroughfares. The best place to start is in the vicinity of Parc Leopold , where, just a few minutes' stroll from the petit ring, you'll find the intriguing Musee Wiertz , exhibiting the huge and eccentric paintings of the eponymous artist, and the gleaming European Parliament building . From here, it's a ten-minute walk to Le Cinquantenaire , one of Leopold's most excessive extravagances, a triumphal arch built to celebrate the golden jubilee of Belgian independence and containing three museums, the pick of which is the wide-ranging Musees royaux d'Art et d'Histoire .
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