Congress Column

The Congress Column (Colonne du Congrès) rises 47 metres above Place du Congrès in central Brussels, Belgium, close to the Rue Royale and the Botanique gardens. It honours the National Congress, the assembly that met after the revolution of 1830 and adopted the Belgian constitution on 7 February 1831. The constitution established a constitutional monarchy with guarantees of freedom of the press, association, religion and education, and the Congress then elected the first king, Leopold I, who took the oath on 21 July 1831, still the date of Belgium's national day.

The monument was designed by the architect Joseph Poelaert, who later designed the Palace of Justice, and built between 1850 and 1859. It is a tall, fluted Doric-style column of blue stone, topped by a bronze statue of Leopold I. At the base, four seated bronze female figures represent the freedoms enshrined in the constitution: freedom of the press, of association, of religion and of education. A grand stairway and a long terrace climb up from the lower city, giving the monument a prominent urban position. Bas-relief friezes and an inscription recall the founders of the state.

In 1922 the tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the First World War was placed at the foot of the column. An eternal flame burns there, and memorial ceremonies take place each year, notably on 11 November. The site thus joins two layers of national memory: the political founding of the state and the remembrance of the dead of the world wars. An interior staircase inside the column does exist but is not generally open to the public.

The column has been cleaned and restored several times, and the surrounding square has been redeveloped with fountains and gardens. It is a short walk from the Royal Quarter and from Brussels-Central station, and is commonly combined with a visit to the nearby BELvue Museum or the Royal Palace, whose collections tell the story of the same events.