Laeken Cemetery

Laeken Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Brussels still in active use, and it serves as the resting place of the Belgian royal family. Thanks to its abundance of funerary heritage and its role as the burial ground for the city's wealthy and famous families, it has earned the nickname "the Belgian Père Lachaise," after the celebrated Parisian cemetery.

Why is it called the "Belgian Père Lachaise"?

The comparison to Paris's Père Lachaise is not incidental. Like its French counterpart, Laeken Cemetery has long served as a burial site for affluent and influential families, and its avenues are lined with elaborate, often artistically ambitious funerary architecture. This concentration of grand tombs, chapels and monuments is precisely what led to the cemetery being regarded as one of Western Europe's most representative burial grounds — a place where the design of a tomb can carry as much weight as the memory it commemorates.

What sets this cemetery apart within Brussels?

Laeken Cemetery stands out among Brussels' burial grounds primarily for the continuity of its history: it is the city's oldest cemetery that has remained in uninterrupted use to this day. That longevity has turned it into a natural reference point for the city's history, accumulating over the years the legacy of successive generations of residents and public figures.

A second distinguishing feature is its role as the resting place of the Belgian royal family. The presence of royal graves elevates the site beyond the function of an ordinary local necropolis — Laeken Cemetery is, in a sense, a place of national memory, tying the history of the dynasty to the history of the city itself.

What does its funerary heritage consist of?

The cemetery's reputation for "abundant funerary heritage" refers to the range and quality of the funerary art gathered on its grounds. The graves of Brussels' wealthy and famous families frequently took the form of grand monuments, burial chapels or sculptures, which together, over the decades, turned the cemetery into something like an open-air gallery of sepulchral art. For visitors, this means a walk through the grounds doubles as a lesson in the city's history and a survey of tomb architecture spanning different eras.

Where exactly is the cemetery located?

Laeken Cemetery lies in the Laeken district in the north of Brussels, in close proximity to sites strongly associated with the Belgian monarchy — this is also the part of the city where the royal family's residence is located. That location further explains why this particular cemetery became the burial site chosen by the dynasty.

Frequently asked questions

Is Laeken Cemetery the oldest cemetery in Brussels? Yes — it is the city's oldest cemetery still in active use for burials today.

Why is it nicknamed the "Belgian Père Lachaise"? Because of its resemblance to the Parisian necropolis Père Lachaise: it holds numerous graves of wealthy and famous individuals and features rich, artistically elaborate funerary architecture.

Who is buried here? The cemetery is the resting place of the Belgian royal family, as well as members of wealthy and influential Brussels families.

Where in Brussels is the cemetery located? In the Laeken district, in the northern part of the city.