Brussels, home to the European Union, welcomed euro banknotes and coins with a dazzling sound and light extravaganza under the stars, and a post-midnight rush on cash machines.

Several thousand people braved freezing temperatures to gather under a full moon at the Parc du Cinquantenaire (Jubilee Park) for the 45-minute multimedia spectacle titled "The Euro Bridge."

"This is the most important event in mankind's monetary history," announced a perky, coin-shaped cartoon character called Mister Euro from the projection screen that was stretched across the park's imperial arches.

Later, during the first hours of Tuesday, revellers -- many with uncorked champagne bottles in hand -- lined up outside banks to draw their first euros out of automatic teller machines outside EU headquarters.

The switchover was not so smooth around the Grand'Place, the picturesque main square that is Brussels' main tourist attraction, where a number of bank machines were out of order.

To warm up the crowd at the sound and light show, Belgian conducter Dirk Brosse, leading the European Festival Orchestra, started off with a medley of songs from the 12 euro zone countries.

Included in the mix were Dutch and Irish folk tunes; bits of Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel and Richard Strauss to represent France, Belgium and Austria; some Portuguese fado; and the 1984 German anti-war pop tune "99 Red Balloons".

Mister Euro came next with a few tame jokes at the expense of Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders -- who coincidentally was described in the show's program as its producer.

Reynders, a rising star in Belgian politics, has been chairman of the euro group -- an informal club of finance ministers from the nations that use the single European currency -- for the past year.

On the stroke of midnight (2300 GMT), the sky over the arches (inscribed with the words: "Erected in 1905 to the glorification of the independence of Belgium") came alive with volleys of green and yellow fireworks.

The orchestra, comfortably warm inside a purpose-built plastic dome, simultaneously struck up "The River Moldau," by the 19th century Czech composer Bedrich Smetana.

On either side of the stage, dirvish-like dancers twirled fireworks in their hands, impervious to the cold in their skimpy latex outfits that would have been more appropriate in a steamy disco.

The music was intended by Smetana to represent a journey down the Moldau or Vltava river, through Bohemia to the Czech capital Prague. The Czech Republic today is one of 12 countries negotiating to join the EU as early as 2004.

Reynders and EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes exploited the scene as a backdrop for a photo opportunity, as they whipped out fistfuls of euros and grinned triumphantly for the television news cameras.

Reynders later went down to a specially decorated branch of Belgium's market-leading Fortis Bank to withdraw 150 euros with his cash card. "I'm going to start by buying myself a Belgian beer," he announced.

"I'm proud to have a real people's money in my hands. It's not only the money of the financial markets, but also and above all the money of more than 300 million Europeans," he said.

rom/pvh