10. Spoelberch de Lovenjoul Mansion [Residence of the French Ambassador]

A fervent connoisseur of French literature and passionate bibliophile, Viscount Charles de Spœlberch de Lovenjoul had a private mansion built in 1865 on Boulevard du Régent.  His collection of nearly 5,500 manuscripts, including almost all of Balzac’s, and some 40,000 valuable printed volumes, was kept in a gallery (no longer there) connecting the main building and the stables.  To protect it and fund its preservation, he bequeathed it to the Institut de France on the condition that his property serve as the headquarters for the French legation in Belgium.  Now the residence of the French ambassador, this building with its Neoclassical façade and architecture features beautifully maintained panelled rooms and salons, numerous 18th-century oil paintings, a portrait of Louise of Orléans, the first Queen of the Belgians, Gobelin tapestries and carpets, as well as French works of art, furniture and objects spanning several eras and styles.