Attractions

Grand'Place, Brussels. The heart of the city's downtown, this Baroque squareis flanked by the flamboyant Gothic Town Hall, King's House and ornate guildhalls dating back to the Middle Ages. The Ommegang pageant, re-creating a grand 16th-century reception for Emperor Charles V, is held here every year on the first Thursday in July.

Royal Museums of Modern and Ancient Art, Brussels. The complex ranks among Europe's leading art museums, with works of Bruegel, Rubens, Ensor, Magritte and Delvaux.

Rubens House, Antwerp. The home and studio of the Flemish master is a museum of 17th-century living. The portico provides a dramatic entrance to the garden. Its pavilion is immortalized in A Walk in the Garden, showing Rubens and his beloved wife.

Curtius Museum, Liège. Installed in a 400-year-old palace, it features Frankish and Gallo-Roman coins, regional furniture, porcelain, pottery and the 1,000-year-old Notger Bible.

Cathedral of Notre Dame, Tournai. With a subtle mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles, it is one of the most remarkable medieval structures in the world and contains treasures of incomparable richness.

Something Special

A René Magritte Retrospective will be held at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels from March 6 to June 28. Magritte (1898^_1967) was born in Hainaut to the south. Influenced initially by Cubism and Futurism, only later did Magritte venture into Surrealism, the style for which he is best known. Magritte is one of the 20th century's most widely reproduced artists; his men in bowlers and reverse silhouettes (above, Le Retour, 1940) inspiring much design, even the familiar CBS "eye" logo.