- Leopold Park
Infobox park
park = Parc Léopold fr icon
Leopoldspark nl icon
image size = 250px
caption = The pond with the European Parliament building in the background
type = Public park
location =Brussels ,Belgium
coordinates = coord|50|50|18|N|4|22|48|E|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:BE
size = 6 hectare, 43 ares
opened = 18 novembre 1976
operator =
annual visitors =
status =Parc Léopold (French) or Leopoldspark (Dutch) is a public park located within the
Leopold Quarter and European Quarter ofBrussels , adjacent to the Paul-Henri Spaak building, the seat of theEuropean Parliament .The 10-hectare (25-acre) park was open to the public in 1880 after an unpopular zoo was 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 theRoyal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences is also located in the park.The Library of Solvay is also located in the park and houses the think tanks
Security and Defence Agenda ,Friends of Europe andMaison d'Europe .The park's outstanding feature is its pond, fed by the
Maalbeek stream. Many rare trees (remnants of a botanic garden) and animals such asmallard s, moorhens,coot s, and even Egyptian geese and rose-ringed parakeets thrive in this urban environment.External links
* [http://www.opt.be/tourisme/description.php?ID=764&CLANGUE=en&T=V&ELTOID=27985 Description of Leopold Park at the Belgian Board of Tourism website]
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