GRAND-PLACE

The discovery of Brussels begins with the Grand-Place. At first glance, this one is impossible to find. Explanation: the ancients had the wisdom to locate the navel of the city away from the main traffic routes. In all, seven streets lead from the Grand-Place to the seven gates of the first city wall. The quasi-rectangle of the Grand-Place groups the guild houses around the town hall, the facade of the craftsmen and merchants.

Beauty born of tragedy. The Grand-Place owes its current appearance to a tragedy: the bombardment of Brussels by the French troops of Louis XIV from August 13 to 15, 1695. The ruined Grand-Place was rebuilt in 3 years, for the great majority of the buildings, as attested by the numerous cartouches of the houses. An exceptional fact, when you think about it!

The only survivor of those terrible days was thetown hall, whose walls held up despite the fire that ravaged it. This building in pure Brabant gothic style is the central point of the square. Built in several phases, it is decorated with 300 statues that have nothing medieval about them since they were added at the end of the ^19th century, during the renovation of the building. These statues represent for the most part historical figures of Brussels. At the top of the spire of the city hall, the archangel Saint Michael watches over Brussels.

The guild houses, mostly in baroque (or neo-baroque) style, compete with each other in beauty and symbolism. Although many of them have been restored and/or rebuilt, especially in the ^19th century, they still have the presence that the bourgeois of Brussels wanted to give them during the post-bombing reconstruction.

Opposite the City Hall, we find the King's House, built in the ^19th century in neo-gothic style, it is like an echo of its neighbor opposite. For years, it has housed the Brussels City Museum.

The refuge of Victor and Karl. Victor Hugo spoke very highly of the Grand-Place. Exiled to Brussels at the beginning of the reign of Napoleon III, he lived in two of its houses: the Windmill, which is part of the ensemble of the House of the Dukes of Brabant, and the House of the Pigeon, former residence of the painters' guild. Another exile of the ^19th century was Karl Marx, who lived between 1845 and 1848 in the capital of the new Belgian state. He was a regular at the estaminet of the Swan House. Together with his compatriot, Friedrich Engels, he organized the meetings of the Communist League.