Berlaymont Building
The building's silhouette is the European Commission's official emblem — you're looking at the logo made real, in concrete and glass.
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This is where EU executive power physically lives. The president's office, the College of Commissioners, and the boardroom all sit on the 13th floor. Since Ursula von der Leyen, the EC president actually sleeps here — in a small private area beside the main office — making it the first true presidential residence in the building's history.
What to look for
- The distinctive architectural form the European Commission adopted as its official emblem — recognizable from the roundabout
- The 13th floor, which holds the president's office, the boardroom, and restaurant La Convivialité
- The building's name: it stands on the former site of the Convent of the Ladies of Berlaymont
On the Robert Schuman Roundabout at 200 rue de la Loi in Brussels' European Quarter; it is an active government building, so exterior viewing from the roundabout is the standard visit.
Berlaymont Building is one of 33 sights worth the detour in Brussels, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Brussels pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Brussels
- Manneken PisA 55.5 cm bronze boy that somehow became the face of an entire country — the joke is entirely intentional.
- Grand-PlaceEvery guildhall surrounding you was rebuilt from rubble — French artillery levelled the square in 1695, and the Town Hall tower survived only because it was the gunners' aiming point.
- AtomiumNine stainless-steel spheres arranged as an iron crystal blown up 165 billion times — built to headline a World's Fair and never taken down.
- Stoclet PalaceA UNESCO World Heritage house you can only see from the pavement — by design, and by the owner's choice.
- King Baudouin StadiumInaugurated for Belgium's 100th birthday in 1930, this 70,000-seat bowl on the Heysel Plateau hosted six European finals — and the night football changed forever.
- Cathedral of St. Michael and St. GudulaBelgium's national church began as a chapel on a trade-route crossroads in the 9th century — eleven centuries of building decisions are now stacked on a hill called "Mount of Sorrow."