More than a peeing cherub

A city whose most popular tourist sight is a tiny statue of a boy going to the toilet may not appear to offer much to the dedicated culture vulture. But Brussels is deceptive. Though the sights within the old city walls - the magnificent Grand Place, the art galleries, the Cathedral and the picturesque Sablon area - can only sustain the keen visitor for a day or two, the city also has a wealth of Art Nouveau architecture to rival anything in Europe. It's hardly promoted - there is no Art Nouveau trail, nor even any signs pointing the way to the most interesting buildings, but with a good map you can enjoy a great architectural experience away from the crowds.

Imagine a city peopled by millionaire socialists, lovers of art, carving out new suburbs on virgin fields. Such was Brussels in 1900 - described by many before the Great War as the most beautiful city in Europe. Champagne socialists built a series of unique Art Nouveau houses (many of them small palaces) dripping with extravagant ornaments - stages on which their elaborate business, social and political lives were played out. Unlike the timid nouveaux riches in Britain today, the last thing these Belgian art lovers wanted was for their homes to look the same as those of their neighbours.

Fin de siecle financiers and industrialists (many of whom had made their fortune by taking part in the founding of the Congo Free State) were not afraid to commission the most progressive architects - men like Victor Horta who moved in the same socialist circles as themselves. His Tassel House at 6 Rue Paul-Emile Jansen (1893) is considered to be the first true Art Nouveau building in Brussels. You can't get in, but 15 minutes' walk away in Rue Americaine are the house and studio he built for himself - now the Musee Horta. It's not big or grand but is well worth visiting. Horta designed everything in it and never used a straight line or sharp angle where a curve could be used instead.

The museum also has a fine collection of Horta furniture, so you get a feel for the artistic culture which embraced the whole of Brussels life. Such was the passion for extravagant buildings that Horta built warehouses, stations, theatres and department stores. Many of these have gone but, as it was on the point of collapse, the former Wauquez department store was saved. It doesn't have any original furnishings and it's in a run- down street in the centre of town, but its contents may entertain. It's now the "Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee" (the Belgian Comic Strip Museum) so you can admire the interior while delving into the history of Tintin.

"Brusselisation" is now used internationally to describe a particular method of destroying old buildings - by letting them decay to such an extent that demolition is the only option. A walk round the European Community quarter of the city explains just why Brussels has such a bad reputation in the conservation world. The huge, concrete buildings housing the Community's institutions are carved out of a pretty 19th century residential area. So it's amazing to find a fine collection of Art Nouveau houses, built around squares, just five minutes' walk from the hub of "Eurocracy". Wander down Rue Philippe le Bon, and Avenue Palmerston, round Squares Ambiorix and Gutenberg and down the side streets too if you have time. Look out particularly for the three Horta houses (at Nos 3, 4 and 6 Ave Palmerston) and at No 11 Square Ambiorix, an amazingly ornate Art Nouveau facade, designed by a 22-year-old and squeezed into a plot only 13 feet wide.

Though there are particular concentrations of Art Nouveau houses in Brussels, good examples pop up all over. Ten minutes' walk from the "quarter of the square" is perhaps the most flamboyant Art Nouveau facade in the city. Paul Cauchie, an architect, wanted to advertise his prowess so he covered the facade of his own house with elaborate "sgraffiti" designs. The house is open to the public the first weekend of every month and its well worth the 100-franc entrance to see the voluptuous musicians covering the walls of the sitting room and the Mackintosh-inspired dining room. If you still have energy, walk from this house to the Palais Stoclet (279 Avenue de Tervuren), the masterpiece of the Viennese architect Joseph Hoffman. It's an extremely tantalising house - inside are rooms with mosaics by Klimt but it's never open to the public and all one can do is stand surrounded by traffic on a reservation in the middle of the road and admire the geometric lines of the facade.

When your feet get weary, you can still enjoy Art Nouveau interiors while having a meal or a drink. The restaurant "De Ultieme Hallucinatie" (Flemish for "the ultimate hallucination") is so called because the proprietor was wonder-struck when he first saw the interior of this house in 1980. He converted it into a restaurant and bar but retained all the original decoration so you feel as if you might be dining in a private house in 1910.

Discovering the full extent of Art Nouveau Brussels could take you a week, given that there are three or four more areas with great examples of the style. But for those with limited time and walking power there is a very good bus tour which is run every Saturday in English by ARAU, a conservation action group. The guide is knowledgeable and in the three- hour trip the bus drives past most of the best examples of Art Nouveau in the city.

FACT FILE

Musee Horta: 25 Rue Americaine, 1060. Open 2-5.50pm Tues-Sun. 120 BF Tues-Fri, 200 BF Sat, Sun.

Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee: 20 Rue des Sables. 10am-6pm, Tues- Sun. 250 BF.

La Maison Cauchie: 5 Rue des France. Open 11am-6pm the first weekend of every month. 100 BF.

De Ultieme Hallucinatie: 316 Rue Boyd, 1210. Tel: (02) 217 0614. Open for lunch Mon-Fri, dinner Mon-Sat. Menus 1450/2750 BF.

Falstaff: 17 Rue Henri Maus, 1000 (take door under canopy on right otherwise you'll find yourself in Falstaff Extension). Open all day, every day.

ARAU Tel: (02) 219 3345. The tour bus picks up at 9.45am on Saturdays at Place de Brouckere outside Hotel Metropole. 600 BF (booking advised).

'Art Nouveau in Brussels', AAM Editions. Booklet and map. 600 BF; 'Art Nouveau - a Walk in Brussels'. 148 BF; 'Promenades Art Nouveau a Bruxelles' by Louis Meers. Excellent book (in French) of walks. 495 BF; 'Trois Cartes-Promenades a Bruxelles': Victor Horta Walking Map', 'Art Nouveau Walking Map', 'Grand Place Walking Map'. 200 BF.

Most of the above are available from the Belgian Tourist Information Centre, 63 Rue Marche aux Herbes, 1000, and the Tourism and Information Office of Brussels, Hotel de Ville, Grand Place 1000.