[6][7][8] The first regular meetings of the States General, composed of delegates from the middle class, clergy and nobility of the Burgundian Netherlands, were held there in 1465.

On the northern side, a new building for the Council of Brabant was built by the French architect Gilles-Barnabé Guimard, which now houses the Belgian Federal Parliament and is known as the Palace of the Nation.

The newly created "Royal Palace" received a new neoclassical façade designed by the architect Tilman-François Suys with a peristyle in the middle, and a balcony with a wrought iron parapet surrounding the entire first floor.

The sculpture of the façade's pediment shows an allegorical figure of Belgium flanked by groups representing Industry and Agriculture, by the sculptor Thomas Vinçotte.

The new design includes a formal front garden with gilded railings, gates and balustrades, separating the building from the Place des Palais.

Visiting hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.[14] Around 2010, some of the palace's halls were converted into meeting rooms, with adapted sound systems and facilities for simultaneous interpretation.

In front of the central flight, in a false loggia, dominates a statue of Peace in the guise of Minerva made by the sculptor Charles-Auguste Fraikin in 1877.

Produced by the sculptors François Rude and Jean-Louis van Geel [fr] around 1826, the frieze running all around the room thus represents the four main economic activities of the country (Trade, Navigation, Industry and Agriculture) and the four virtues of good governance (Abundance, Prudence, Armed force and Peace).

There are also in this room two paintings by the English portraitist George Dawe representing the young Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Princess Charlotte of Wales at the time of their wedding.

[18] Requested by Leopold II from Henri Maquet as a tribute to his Congo colony, the Hall of Mirrors contains many elements reminiscent of its primary vocation: exotic plant decorations, lion figures, copper sconces (and not gilding, the Congo being very rich in copper mines) and especially terrestrial globes depicting Africa in the pediments above the chimneys.

It was not until 2004 that, at the request of Queen Paola,[20] the artist Jan Fabre installed there a work called Heaven of Delight made up of more than a million beetle elytra in order to reflect the light with a metallic green tint.

Its current decoration, in a fairly sober neo-Louis XVI style with white stucco and Corinthian pilasters raised in gold, is embellished with allegorical paintings by Charles-Léon Cardon, reproducing or even copying at the request of Leopold II works by the French painters Charles Le Brun and Louis-Jacques Durameau: Dawn, Day and Twilight are completed by Aurora located on one of the central walls.

[23] This gallery, ideal for its length and the possibility of housing an orchestra on a raised balcony, often hosts receptions: for example the dinner given in honour of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1958, the ball given the day before the wedding of King Baudouin with Fabiola de Mora y Aragón in 1960 or the reception that followed the wedding of Prince Philippe with Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz in 1999.

On the walls, two portraits by Louis Gallait represent Godfrey of Bouillon and Charles V. The space served mainly as a dining room, as at the time of the wedding of Princess Louise with Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and had for this purpose a pantry and a freight elevator embedded behind doors.

The neo-Louis XVI style decor corresponds to the will of Leopold II, whose monogram is inscribed in the parquet flooring in oak, maple, mahogany and ebony.

The exterior spaces are each decorated with a large allegorical bas-relief of the Meuse and Scheldt rivers, works of the sculptor Thomas Vinçotte.

The perimeter of the central space is decorated with female figures attributed to Auguste Rodin, representing the Belgian Provinces and their main activities.

[24] This room has seen many historical events take place, such as the abdication of Leopold III in 1951, that of Albert II in 2013 or the civil marriage of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola in 1960.

Even if this noble privilege disappeared during the reign of Baudouin, the expression Princes and Dukes of the Blue Room survived in the documents regulating precedence.

The depiction of his deceased first wife, Allegory of the Death of Princess Charlotte, is a work by portrait painter and historian Arthur William Devis.

[26] Vestige of the former Hotel Belgiojoso renovated under William I to make it a ballroom, the Empire Room's decoration still bears traces of the Austrian era, such as the dancing putti above the doors.

[27] This room housed, among other things, the marriage of Prince Albert of Liège to Paola Ruffo di Calabria in 1959 and the signing of the sixth state reform in 2014.

The Empire style furniture, a wedding present given by King Louis Philippe I of the French to his daughter Louise of Orléans and Leopold I, still bears its original Beauvais tapestry decoration.

[29] The Small White Drawing Room is decorated with portraits of Louise and her parents, Louis-Philippe and Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily.

Painted by Jean-Baptiste Van Moer [fr] in 1867 (while the painter was using his Prix de Rome to visit Italy),[30] they represent Saint Mark's Square, the Grand Canal and the inner courtyard of the Doge's Palace.

Other paintings, representing the Piazzetta and the Porta della Carta were later commissioned by Leopold II from the artist and installed in a small annex corridor.

Although it is no longer the private residence of the sovereigns, the palace has continued to house members of the royal family and to see important events take place for them.

Only one king was born there (Leopold II, on 9 April 1835), none died there, but many marriages took place there: among many others, that of the future Leopold II with Marie-Henriette of Habsburg-Lorraine, that of Princess Charlotte with Archduke Maximilian, that of Prince Albert of Liège with Paola Ruffo di Calabria, that of King Baudouin with Fabiola de Mora y Aragón and that of Prince Philippe with Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz.

The palace can also serve more specific functions: for instance, during the First World War and on the initiative of Queen Elisabeth, it became a military hospital of the Red Cross.

This rectangular park, measuring more than 13 ha (32 acres),[32] contains around sixty sculptures, primarily inspired by Greco-Roman mythology; two water basins with fountains; monumental neoclassical railings and gates; as well as two bandstands where numerous shows take place in the summer.