The monumental building of the Brussels stock exchange is located 100 meters from the Grand Place, on the Boulevard of Anspach. The exchange was established in 1801 by order of Emperor Napoleon I, when Belgium was part of France.
At the beginning, the building of the Augustinian monastery and the nearby square were allocated for stock exchange operations. In the middle of the 19th century, a large-scale reconstruction was started in this area. The riverbed of the Senna was hidden in a tunnel, and the boulevards were widened. On the site of the monastery in the period from 1868 to 1873, a new building of the Stock Exchange in the Empire style was built by the architect Leon Seis.
The huge portico is supported by Corinthian columns. On the facade of the Exchange there are many sculptures that were created by famous sculptors, including Auguste Rodin, Guillaume de Groot and other Belgian masters.
The exchange building is very similar to a Museum and in recent years it has really begun to function as a Museum site. An exhibition dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci was held here with great success.
The Brussels stock exchange is still active today, but on an electronic platform. In 2000, it merged into the French Exchange and the Amsterdam Exchange. The first European Exchange was created based on these platforms. Belgian division is called the Brussels Euronext Exchange.
