Bourse Palace

The Bourse in Brussels, photographed in September 2023, just after its long renovation. Léon-Pierre Suys began the works in 1868 and finished in 1873, and the front is a crowd of columns, pediment sculpture and rooftop figures, built when financial markets were spreading across the world and Belgium wanted a hall to match. The trading drained away slowly: in 2015 the last six Euronext traders left the building, and it stood empty until the renovation. Since 2023 its upper floors have held Belgian Beer World, a museum of the country's brewing, so the old exchange now draws tourists rather than brokers.