page_title: Leopold Quarter
section_title: Recent redevelopment
hierarchical_section_title: Leopold Quarter / History / Recent redevelopment
caption_attribution_description: English: Panorama of the Place du Luxembourg, European Quarter of Brussels (Belgium). View of the European Parliament (western side), including converted station entrance in front) with statue of John Cockerill in foreground. Restaurants and bus stops on pavements each side.
context_page_description: The Leopold Quarter is a quarter of Brussels, Belgium. Today the term is sometimes confused with the European Quarter, as the area has come to be dominated by the institutions of the European Union and organisations dealing with them, although the two terms are not in fact the same, with the Leopold Quarter being a smaller more specific district of the municipalities of the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Ixelles and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode.
  The Leopold Quarter traditionally encompassed the area immediately south of the inner ring road, between the Namur Gate and Louvain Gate. Today it lies roughly between the ring road, Leopold Park, Rue Joseph II/Jozef II-Straat, and Rue du Trône/Troonstraat. The district was created in 1837, soon after Belgian independence, as a prestigious residential area for the elite of the new Belgian capital, and was named after King Leopold I. It remained the most prestigious residential address in the capital until the early 20th century when many of its former residents began to relocate to Brussels' newly developing suburbs.
context_section_description: In 1987, the old Leopold brewery was torn down in anticipation of the construction of what would become the Espace Léopold, which was unofficially intended to house the European Parliament. Political and legal wrangling had continually delayed a final conclusion regarding the unofficial seat for the parliament. However, as Brussels hoped to keep all of the official institutions in Europe, provision was made for the construction of a suitable facility (see Brussels and the European Union). The construction of the massive facility changed the face of the district again, putting the above ground railway tracks of the Leopold Quarter train station below ground and renaming it as the Brussels-Luxembourg Station.
caption: The Place du Luxembourg, with what remains of the old Gare du Quartier Léopold building centre, and the European Parliament behind. Place du Luxembourg retains some of the more traditional architectural elements of the Leopold Quarter, while the parliamentary complex dominates the now largely institutional area.
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