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Parc/Park station is a station on the Brussels Metro, is located beneath the Brussels Park in the center of Brussels. It is served by lines 1 and 5.
Contents
Station
The station was opened on 17 December 1969, as a premetro station, and became a heavy metro station in 1976 serving lines 1A and 1B. It has one entrance, at the intersection of Rue Royale and Rue de la Loi, two of the main roads of the City of Brussels.
Area
Several places of interest other than the park itself lie near this station: the Royal Palace, the house of the Prime Minister, the Royal Theatre of the Park, and the United States embassy.
History
When the station was first built, there was a plan to eventually construct a connecting line along the route of the Rue Royale. To provide for this line, a much larger underground space was excavated than necessary for a simple station. The Rue Royale line was quickly canceled, and the underground chambers intended for it now house the Brussels Metro's traffic control center.
The tunnel between Parc/Park and Arts-Loi/Kunst-Wet stations was the first section of the Brussels Metro system to be built using a tunnelling shield. This was done as a test; most parts of the Brussels Metro have been built using open construction methods.