The Espace Léopold (French; commonly used in English) or Leopoldruimte (Dutch; ) is the complex of
parliament buildings in
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, Belgium, housing the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
, a
legislative chamber
A legislative chamber or house is a deliberative assembly within a legislature which generally meets and votes separately from the legislature's other chambers. Legislatures are usually unicameral, consisting of only one chamber, or bicamer ...
of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(EU). It consists of a number of buildings, primarily the oldest, the Paul-Henri Spaak building, which houses the debating chamber and the President's offices, and the Altiero Spinelli building, which is the largest. The buildings are located in the
European Quarter of Brussels, with construction starting in 1989.
The complex is not the official seat of the European Parliament, which is the
Louise Weiss building in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, France, but as most of the other
institutions of the European Union
The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and Euratom governed under the Treaties of the European Union and European Union law. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty o ...
are in Brussels, the Parliament built the Brussels complex to be closer to its activities. A majority of the Parliament's work is now geared to its Brussels site, but it is legally bound to keep Strasbourg as its official home.
History
Inception and construction
Due to the failure of leaders to agree on a single seat, the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
desired full infrastructure in both Brussels and
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, where the Parliament's
official seat is located. In Brussels, an international congress centre (unofficially intended as the Parliament) was built with the backing of the ''
Société Générale de Belgique'' and
BACOB, which joined forces on the project in 1987. The project was built on the site of an old brewery and marshalling yard, which included covering
Brussels-Luxembourg railway station
Brussels-Luxembourg railway station (; ) is a railway station in the Brussels and the European Union#European Quarter, European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium, located under the Esplanade of the European Parliament (part of the European Parliamen ...
to form a pedestrian area.
[European Commission publication: ''Europe in Brussels'' 2007] The building project started before 1988 with construction work on the hemicycle and the north wing starting in 1989 and the south wing in 1992.
The policy committees, inter-parliamentary delegations and the political groups all meet in the complex. Consequently, the secretariat of the committees (
DG IPOL and
DG EXPO) and the
political groups are all situated there as well. Construction on the Spinelli building started in 1991 and was completed in 1997, whilst the last phase of extensions (Antall and Brandt), towards the
Place du Luxembourg/Luxemburgplein along the /, was completed during 2008.
Following the completion of Antall and Brandt, it is believed the complex now provides enough space for Parliament for the next ten to fifteen years with no major new building projects foreseen.
Three quarters of Parliamentary activity now take place in Espace Léopold, rather than Strasbourg.
In 2008, the final extensions to the complex were completed along the Rue de Trêves and the Place du Luxembourg. Originally called the D4 and D5 buildings, there was controversy as to whom to name them after. At the death of
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
, Polish MEPs tried to get the new buildings named after him, though this was opposed on grounds of secular government and that he did not contribute to the Parliament.
Václav Havel
Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...
,
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
,
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until as ...
,
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
and
Jan Palach were all suggested by MEPs, with one satirical suggestion was naming the two buildings the "Kaczyński Towers" after the Polish brothers
Lech and
Jarosław Kaczyński, the first the late former President and the latter formerly Prime Minister (2006–07), who enjoy a frosty relationship with Brussels. In January 2008 the bureau reached a final decision. The new buildings were named after
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...
, the
German chancellor from 1969 to 1974, and
József Antall, the first elected
Hungarian prime minister from 1990 to 1993. The bridge connecting the new building to the original structure was named the
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...
footbridge, after the German chancellor from 1949 to 1963. Meanwhile, the Parliament's press room was named after the assassinated Russian journalist,
Anna Politkovskaya.
[New EU parliament buildings named](_blank)
EU observer
In September 2008, the Parliament held its first full plenary session (only part sessions are held in Brussels, see
Location of European Union institutions) in Brussels after parts of the ceiling of the Strasbourg chamber collapsed during recess, forcing the temporary move.
On 14 January 2009, the European Parliament decided to bestow the names of two distinguished and deceased MEPs to specific locations inside the building: the reading room inside the building's library was named ''Salle
Francisco Lucas Pires'' and the assembly room of the Conciliation Committee was named ''Salle
Renzo Imbeni''.
Ceiling cracks and renovation
In a turn of events reminiscent of the
Strasbourg hemicycle ceiling collapse of 2008, three beams supporting the plenary chamber's ceiling were found to be cracked in August 2012. This in turn led to a complete closure for "at least six months" (as announced on 9 October 2012) of the A section of the Paul-Henri Spaak Building. In early December 2012, it became known that the damage was more serious than previously thought, and that the closure of the hemicycle was expected to last "until November 2013". All "mini plenary" meetings in Brussels until this date were scrapped, a decision that was met with "fury" by some MEPs.
In 2019, the European Parliament announced an open international design competition for the renovation and refurbishment of the Paul-Henri Spaak building. Of the 132 proposals submitted for consideration, 15 architects, including
OMA,
Snøhetta,
Renzo Piano Building Workshop,
Shigeru Ban Architects, and
Dominique Perrault were selected to participate in the final round of the competition. In July 2022, the winning team of
JDS Architects, Coldefy,
Carlo Ratti Associati, NL Architects, and Ensamble Studio was announced. The estimated cost of the project is €500 million.
Buildings
The Espace Léopold is a complex of buildings built from 1989 to 2004 in
postmodern
Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...
style. It consists of the Paul-Henri Spaak building (which houses the debating chamber), the Altiero Spinelli building, two new buildings known as the Willy Brandt and József Antall buildings and a newly refurbished building which was the former entrance to the
Brussels-Luxembourg railway station
Brussels-Luxembourg railway station (; ) is a railway station in the Brussels and the European Union#European Quarter, European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium, located under the Esplanade of the European Parliament (part of the European Parliamen ...
. Between the Spinelli buildings and the Brant-Antall buildings, which are connected by the circular Konrad Adenauer footbridge, runs the
Esplanade of the European Parliament (or "the Mall").
Paul-Henri Spaak building
The Paul-Henri Spaak building (PHS), named after former
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknam ...
, houses among other things the hemicycle (debating chamber) for plenary sessions in Brussels, as well as a press centre and offices for the Parliament's President and senior Parliamentary staff.
In 1988, the building was the subject of an architectural competition organised by the ''Association des Architectes du CIC'' and won by the architect Michel Boucquillon. He holds the authorship and copyright recognised by the European Parliament. The CIC Architects' Association was composed of the CRV, CDG, Bontinck and Vanden Bossche offices. On the other hand, the other buildings facing the Paul-Henri Spaak building and the Esplanade were designed by the Atelier Espace Léopold in the early 1990s; they also included four architectural offices: the Atelier d'Architecture de Genval, the Cerau group, CRV and the Atelier Vanden Bossche.
Michel Boucquillon designed the building in the oval shape, a symbol of union. The façade is intended to reflect the essential notions of transparency, democracy and proximity to citizens. Parliamentarians enter the axis of the building while spectators, including the press, enter laterally. He conceived the hall of the hemicycle as a vast working space. The aim was to provide a sober, comfortable and human-scale environment that encourages exchange and dialogue. The focus is on the space of the 627 parliamentarians by visually erasing the 532 seats in the gallery. The latter is totally black in order to be absent. The atrium is the "lung" of the building, its role is to allow light or "truth" to flow to the level of the hemicycle. It was therefore essential to imagine a wall and a material that allowed light to flow down. The material had to be transparent to the eye. The woven stainless steel cloth fulfilled this role well. This material had never been used for architectural purposes before.
The building juts from the main buildings out into
Leopold Park
Leopold Park (, ; ) is a public park of located within the Leopold Quarter (Brussels and the European Union, European Quarter) of Brussels, Belgium. It is adjacent to the Espace Léopold, Paul-Henri Spaak building, the seat of the European Par ...
, surrounding the far side with trees. With its striking
cylinder
A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base.
A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...
-shaped glass dome, redolent of the
Crystal Palace, as well as the
Northern Bordiau Hall of the nearby
Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark, the building known to locals as the ''Caprice des Dieux'' ("Whim of the Gods"), which is a well-known brand of cheese with the same shape.
[History of the Building](_blank)
ape-europe.org The 12th floor ''President's Dining Room'' is the dome's interior. This is being used for some press events and special occasions. One of the glass façades inside the dome is covered with a large ceramic mural called ''Miti del Mediterraneo'', portraying the
abduction of Europa and other elements of
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, which was made between 1992 and 1993 by
Aligi Sassu.
Altiero Spinelli building
To the west of the Paul-Henri Spaak building is the Altiero Spinelli building, connected by a two-floor pedestrian bridge. The Altiero Spinelli building (ASP, formerly D3), named after parliamentarian
Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli (31 August 1907 – 23 May 1986) was an Italian politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union. A communist and militant anti-fascist in his youth, Spi ...
, primarily houses the offices of MEPs and political groups. It also houses shops, cafeteria and the members' bar. It is the largest building with of space and incorporates five high-rise towers, each up to 17 floors.
Other and former buildings
The buildings west of Spinelli are connected via the circular Konrad Adenauer footbridge (across the Esplanade) to the Willy Brandt building (WIB, formerly D4), the József Antall building (JAN, formerly D5) and the old railway station building (BQL).
The Brandt building began to be occupied in July 2007 by the
external policies DG and the European Conservatives and Reformists group. The new complex has 375 offices in the Brandt building and 5 conference rooms (with 25 interpreters' booths) in the Antall building, in addition to new press facilities. The first meeting in the Antall building took place on 7 October 2008.
The ground floor (on the Rue de Trêves' side) of the Antall building includes an entrance to Brussels-Luxembourg railway station. The old station building (originally called Leopold Quarter railway station) has been turned into a public information office and venue for ad hoc exhibitions. The first of such exhibitions, on the history of buildings in the European Quarter of Brussels, was held in the summer of 2007.
To the north of the Spinelli building are the Atrium and Remard buildings. The Atrium I & II buildings (ATR) hosts the
DG IPOL and some political groups secretariats. Number 1 was completed in 2000, and the second in 2004. The Remard building was rented from March 2004 for a period of 9 years, with the possibility of cancellation after 6 years for an annual rent of €1,387,205.
Other rented and minor buildings, outside the main complex but used by the Parliament, include a number of buildings on the /, the Eastman building in Leopold Park (currently being expanded to host the
House of European History), the Wiertz building, and the Wayenberg building further east of the park (used as a purpose-built creche for European Parliament staff and MEPs).
The entire European Parliament in Brussels used to be housed in the Belliard building, now called the
Delors building
The Jacques Delors building is an office building in the Brussels and the European Union#European Quarter, European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium, which houses the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. It is lo ...
(after former
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Jacques Delors
Jacques Lucien Jean Delors (; 20 July 192527 December 2023) was a French politician who served as the eighth president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. Delors played a key role in the creation of the single market, the euro and th ...
). This building, and the Bertha von Suttner (ATR) buildings (after pacifist
Bertha von Suttner
Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicitas von Suttner (; ; 9 June 184321 June 1914) was an Bohemian nobility, Austro-Bohemian noblewoman, Pacifism, pacifist and novelist. In 1905, she became the second female Nobel laureate (after Marie Curie in 1903), th ...
), which is part of Espace Léopold, now house the
Economic and Social Committee
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of representatives from employers' associations, workers' unions (trade unions) and c ...
and the
Committee of the Regions
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...
.
Hemicycle
Members are arranged in a
hemicycle according to their political groups who are ordered left to right according to their alignment. However, the non-attached members are seated on the right towards the outer ring without a front bench seat. All desks are equipped with microphones, headphones for interpretation and electronic voting equipment. The leaders of the groups sit on the front benches at the centre, and in the very centre is a podium for guest speakers. The remaining half of the circular chamber is primarily composed of the raised area where the President and staff sit.
Behind them, there is an EU flag attached to the wall with national flags above it.
Interpreters' booths are located behind them and along the sides of the chamber, while public galleries are located at the rear. Further benches are provided between the sides of the raised area and the MEPs; these are taken up by the Council on the far left and the Commission on the far right.
The chamber as a whole is of a wooden design, unlike the hemicycle in Strasbourg, and was extensively renovated in 2003 to create more seats and interpretation booths for the
2004 EU enlargement.
Visitors
The Parliament, its committees and plenary meetings are open to the public. Free audio guided tours are offered when the Parliament is not holding a plenary meeting. The buildings, containing several shops and banks, are largely open to the public and receive 15,000 people a day. The old station building houses the Belgian public information office on the European Parliament, and "infodoc", a specialised literary resource on the Parliament for academics and journalists. A more general public information resource is available at the "infopoint" on the esplanade side of the Spinelli building.
The ground floor of the Brandt building houses a
visitors' centre on the ground floor, originally planned to open in time for the
2009 European election but it had been delayed by a year. With it will be the second largest Parliamentary visitors centre in the world, modelled on the Swedish and Danish centres, with a state-of-the-art interactive role play allowing visitors to simulate the work of an MEP in a mock hemicycle – debating and passing legislation.
[Banks, Martin (30 January 2008]
New visitor centre set to open in EU parliament
TheParliament.com
The original visitor's centre was opened in the 1990s and became too small to handle visitors. The new centre includes a cafeteria, shop, children's area and a "resource area" offering databases of detailed information. There is also a permanent exhibition on the Parliament and Europe.
Entry will be free and visitors will not have to gain passes or go through heavy security checks as they have to with the rest of the complex.
The European Parliament has also collected around 363 paintings and sculptures across its three sets of buildings which it has been purchasing as a pan-European cultural collection since 1979.
Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg MEP, who is in charge of Parliament's art budget, plans to ensure the public have greater access by opening a 'tunnel of art' between the Espace Léopold and the
Delors building
The Jacques Delors building is an office building in the Brussels and the European Union#European Quarter, European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium, which houses the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. It is lo ...
. A museum of Europe will also be established in the Eastman building near Parliament in
Leopold Park
Leopold Park (, ; ) is a public park of located within the Leopold Quarter (Brussels and the European Union, European Quarter) of Brussels, Belgium. It is adjacent to the Espace Léopold, Paul-Henri Spaak building, the seat of the European Par ...
.
A long-standing statue outside the Paul-Henri Spaak building has become popular with tourists. The
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
statue, simply called ''Europe'', was created by
May Claerhout and is a representation of
Europa, carried by a mass of people while also being a part of it. The figure carries an "E" or the Greek "
ϵ", the symbol of the euro and as a sign of European unity. The statue was given to Parliament by the Belgian
presidency of the EU on 20 December 1993.
[Claerhout, Mary]
Artography
mayclaerhout.be (Accessed 29 July 2009)
See also
*
Parlamentarium
*
Brussels and the European Union
City of Brussels, Brussels (Belgium) is considered the ''de facto'' capital of the European Union, having a long history of hosting a number of principal Institutions of the European Union, EU institutions within its European Quarter. The EU h ...
*
Seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg
The city of Strasbourg in France is the official seat of the European Parliament. The institution is legally bound by the decision of Edinburgh European Council of 11 and 12 December 1992 and Article 341 of the TFEU to meet there twelve tim ...
*
European Parliament in Luxembourg
*
Institutional seats of the European Union
The seven institutions of the European Union, institutions of the European Union (EU) are seated in four different cities, which are Brussels (Belgium), Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (Luxembourg) and Stras ...
References
External links
*
Map of the Parliament buildingsEuroParl website
EuroParl website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espace Leopold
Buildings and structures completed in 1995
Government buildings completed in 2008
European Parliament
Buildings and structures in Brussels
Legislative buildings in Europe
Buildings and structures of the European Union
European quarter of Brussels
Tourist attractions in Brussels