The Grand Place(La Grand-Place), Brussels
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The Grand Place(La Grand-Place) or Grote Markt is the central square of Brussels. It is a cobbled rectangular market square, surrounded by opulent guildhalls and two larger edifices, the city’s Town Hall, and the King’s House or Breadhouse building containing the Brussels City Museum.
The Grand-Place is considered as one of the most beautiful places of the world. The Grand-Place of Brussels was registered on the World Heritage List of the UNESCO in 1998.
The buildings around the square and construction is an architectural jewel, it stands as an exceptional and highly successful example of an eclectic blending of architectural and artistic styles of Western culture.
Town Hall
The Town Hall is the central edifice on the Grand Place.The Town Hall is asymmetrical, since the tower is not exactly in the middle of the building and the left part and the right part are not identical (although they seem at first sight).
Old townhall was completely gutted in 1695 by French army and the current interior of the Townhall is an L-shaped building, a quadrilateral with an inner courtyard.
The tympanum of townhall
The Scheldt by Pierre-Denis Plumier in the inner courtyard
Dukes and Duchess of Brabant
King’s House
The King’s House (French: Maison du Roi) was a wooden building where bread was sold, hence the name it kept in Dutch; Broodhuis (Bread House or Bread Hall) The current building houses the Brussels City Museum since 1887
Houses of the Grand Place
The Grand Place is lined on each side with a number of guild(association of artisans or merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area) houses and a few private houses.The strongly structured facades with their rich sculptural decoration including pilasters and balustrades and their lavishly designed gables are based on Italian Baroque with some Flemish influences.
Le Roy d’Espagne, La Brouette, Le Sac, La Louve, Le Cornet and Le Renard**
Between Rue de la Tête d’or/Guldenhoofdstraat and Rue au Beurre/Boterstraat (west):
Le Cerf, Joseph et Anne, L’Ange, La Chaloupe d’Or, Le Pigeon and Le Marchand d’Or
Between Rue de la Colline/Bergstraat and Rue des Harengs/Haringstraat (north-east):
House of the Dukes of Brabant
A set of seven houses grouped behind the same monumental facade designed by Guillaume de Bruyn and modified in 1770, so called because of the busts of the Dukes of Brabant which adorn it.
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Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. We love travel and exploring new places and culture. We started this blog to share our travel journeys, experiences and planning information and of course some pictures of the destinations. We hope to provide some insight about the destinations visited by us and to inspire other people to travel more. We have full time jobs but we make sure we use every opportunity to get out and explore the wonderful creation around us.
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