Mount of Arts is a small regular Park located on an artificial hill between the Upper and Lower city. In the center are beautifully trimmed flower beds and trees, which are surrounded by massive buildings of museums, the Royal Library and the Palace of Congresses.
Medieval Brussels was divided into an Upper and Lower city. The lower classes lived below, but it was also a place of trade. Therefore, the Grand place is located in the Lower city. In the Upper town was the castle of the Duke of Brabant and the houses of the upper class.
On the site where the Mountain of Arts is now located, there used to be a wasteland and a road from the Lower city to the Upper one. In 1910, during of preparation for the World`s fair, king Leopold II ordered the demolition of the old buildings in this place and the creation of a Park. He invited the well-known landscape architect Pierre Vacherot to make it.
The buildings of the Royal Museum of Fine arts and several exhibition halls were built around the regular Park. They gave the name to this place – the Mount of Arts. The Royal library with a large clock and the Congress Palace appeared later. The Museum of Musical instruments and the Cathedral of Saint Michel and Gudula are located nearby.
At the top of the Mount of Arts, near the Church of St. James, there is an observation deck. There are several monuments on the Mount of Arts. The largest one is the monument to king Albert I of Belgium. He was the king of Belgium during the World War I and preferred that the troops did not surrender to the Germans, but resisted. Opposite the monument to King Albert is a small monument to Queen Elizabeth, who was his wife. The square where the monuments are located is called Albertina.
