Royal Castle of Laeken

The Palace of Laeken or Castle of Laeken (French: Château de Laeken; Dutch: Kasteel van Laken; German: Schloss zu Laeken) is the official residence of the King and Queen of the Belgians and the Belgian royal family. It lies in the Brussels-Capital Region, 5 km (3 mi) north of the city centre, in Laeken (part of the City of Brussels), and sits in a large private park called the Royal Domain of Laeken.

The palace was built between 1782 and 1784 for the Governors of the Habsburg Netherlands, and was originally named the Palace of Schonenberg. It was partly destroyed by fire in 1890, after which it was rebuilt and extended. Significant modifications were undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century during the reign of King Leopold II. Nowadays, it is often referred to as the Royal Palace of Laeken or Royal Castle of Laeken.

The Palace of Laeken should not be confused with the Royal Palace of Brussels, in central Brussels, which is the official palace (not residence) of the King of the Belgians and from which state affairs are handled. It is served by Stuyvenbergh metro station on line 6 of the Brussels Metro.

Text adapted from “Palace of Laeken” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Royal Castle of Laeken ranks #249 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #3 of the 89 mapped in Belgium. Founded 1782, it is older than 15% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 525 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 20,049 times in the last 60 days, more than 97% of the atlas. 12 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Brussels, 4 km away. See how Belgium compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗