GRAND PLACE

Description

Essentials about Grand Place in brief

The Grand Place (Great Square) is the central square in the heart of Brussels and, along with the Atomium, the most important landmark of the Belgian capital. With its Gothic Town Hall and its closed baroque facade front, the square is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful squares in the world and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. The many street cafes and restaurants in the square invite you to linger and admire the beautiful historic architecture. In addition, due to its central location, Grand Place is the perfect starting point for a city tour of Brussels.

The history of Grand Place

Originally, the place was a boggy ground, which could not be cultivated and was drained only in the 11th and 12th centuries, while the first houses were built on the neighboring sandbanks. This can be seen in the old names of some houses. Thus, “Le Cornet” was once called “La Montagne” (“The Mountain”) and the house “L’Arbre d’Or” was called “La Colline” (“The Hill”).

Due to the proximity to the quarter of merchants around the Nikolai Church, the square was increasingly used as a market place and numerous merchants and craftsmen settled there. It was not until the 12th century that the square developed into the center of the city and increasingly attracted guilds and corporations. With its increasing economic success, Brussels also tried to gain more independence and free itself from ducal rule. As a sign of its economic power and growing self-confidence, the city erected numerous public buildings from the 14th century onwards, including the famous Gothic Town Hall on Grand Place. From the 16th century, the two local centers of power faced each other on the square: On the north side, the Maison du Roi (House of the King) representing the ducal power, and on the south side, the Town Hall as the seat of the Brussels city administration.

Grand Place was also the site of political meetings, court proceedings, cultural and religious festivities, and execution sites during this period. Among other things, the first Protestants were burned in the square in 1523, and in 1568 the uprisings against Spanish rule under Philip II were put down with the beheading of the leaders Count Egmond and Count Hoorn.

In 1695 the square was almost completely destroyed by the shelling of French troops. Only the walls and towers of the Town Hall and the Maison du Roi were still standing afterwards, all other buildings lay in ruins. Until its destruction in 1695, Grand Place was a colorful mixture of architectural styles from the 15th to 17th centuries. Rapid new construction in the following years gave the square its now world-famous closed Baroque façade front. An important role was played by the city council, which had all the designs of the new houses to be built submitted to it and influenced the plans with the desire for a uniform, representative cityscape.

The architecture and buildings of Grand Place

The rectangular Grand Place is 110 meters long and 68 meters wide. Only the southeast side of the square is slightly slanted so that there is no right angle at the southern corner. Seven narrow and irregular streets, which do not cut the façade front, lead from Grand Place to the old town. The square is dominated by the Brussels Town Hall with its mighty belfry and the Maison du Roi directly opposite, which today houses the City Museum. Since the end of the 20th century, the buildings of the square have been listed.

The Town Hall

The Brussels Town Hall was built between 1401 and 1421 by the Flemish architect Jacob van Tienen. Initially, only the current left wing was built as an extension to an already existing belfry. The original plans did not include a larger city hall. However, after the guilds had won participation in the city government against the patrician families and the building had become too small for the enlarged council, the second, shorter wing of the Town Hall was built from 1444 to 1448.

The 96-meter-high late Gothic belfry was designed by Jan van Ruysbroeck, Philip the Good’s master builder. The tower was built between 1449 and 1455 in place of the previous tower. Its magnificent design was intended to outshine the belfry of nearby Bruges. Above the height of the roof, the massive tower body elegantly slims to an octagonal lantern of long-lancet windows and an open ribbed construction. At its top is a gilded statue of the dragon-fighting Archangel Michael, the patron saint of the city of Brussels.

The Town Hall plays a central role in Brabant Gothic architecture and became the model for later town halls. With its richly windowed façade and magnificent sculptural decoration, it refers to the town halls of Bruges, Oudenaarde and Louvain, but goes beyond them with its rich decoration and especially with the tower. Today’s sculptures on the Fasse are reproductions, the originals are in the City Museum in the Maison du Roi.

After the bombardment at the end of the 17th century, which did not completely destroy the Town Hall, the building acquired its present appearance between 1706 and 1714. After several waves of restoration, the interior of the Town Hall is dominated by neo-Gothic style. Worth seeing are the Maximilians Hall with a famous tapestry, the magnificent Council Hall, the also richly decorated Banquet Hall and the Wedding Hall.

The Maison du Roi

The building’s two very different names, “Broodhuis” in Dutch (meaning “Bread House”) and “Maison du Roi” in French (meaning “House of the King”), derive from two different buildings with different functions. In Dutch, the name has been preserved from a medieval predecessor building from the 13th century, a wooden building in which the city’s bakers sold their bread. When the Duchy of Brabant fell to the Habsburgs, the house housed the ducal, and later royal, court, becoming the Maison du Roi. In 1515 it was replaced by a stone house. Directly in front of the building was the place of execution.

After its destruction in 1695, there were several successor buildings here. The present building is in the neo-Gothic or neo-Renaissance style. The facade is based on engravings from the period 1515 to 1536 and is reminiscent of Oudenaarde’s town hall. In 1873, the city commissioned architect Victor Jamaer to restore the facade. In 1896, the work was completed. During a restoration of the Maison du Roi, an originally planned archway was also realized and other typical 16th century replicas were added to the building. Today the Maison du Roi houses the Brussels City Museum.

The guild houses

After their destruction by the French at the end of the 17th century, the guild houses were rebuilt around 1698 in a magnificent Baroque style. The typical character of the square, apart from the rich baroque ornamentation, is essentially shaped by the unusually narrow plots for baroque buildings, which were based on the Gothic ground plans of the previous buildings. Due to the large number of buildings (besides the two dominating buildings of the Town Hall and the Maison du Roi, a total of 37 buildings line up), Grand Place appears very lively and varied.

The highly articulated facades with their rich sculptural decoration and elaborately designed gables are based on the Italian Baroque with some Flemish influences. Each house bears a proper name in addition to the name of the respective guild. House numbering begins at the northern corner of the square to the left of Rue au Beurre in a counterclockwise direction.

On the northwest side are the probably most beautiful houses No. 1 to 7. On the southwest side, between Rue de la Tête d’Or and Rue Charles Buls, is the Town Hall and to the left of it the houses No. 8 to 12. On the southeast side, between Rue de Chapeliers and Rue de la Colline, there are houses nos. 13 to 19. On the northeast side, the Maison du Roi, located between Rue de Harengs and Rue Chair et Pain, is framed on the right by houses nos. 20 to 28 and on the left by houses nos. 34 to 39.

Grand Place today

Grand-Place is today the biggest tourist attraction in Brussels. Its historic buildings and numerous street cafes and restaurants attract thousands of visitors every day. On weekdays, the square hosts a flower market and on Sundays the bird market.

Grand Place is also regularly the scene of various major events. In July, the so-called Ommegang, a procession in historical costumes that has been taking place since the mid-14th century, ends here. Every two years a huge flower carpet is spread on the square.

A visit to Grand Place in the evening is also recommended. After dark, the facades of the houses in the square are effectively illuminated. Not only for amateur photographers a great picture.