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Grand'Place Review

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Grand'Place

Address: Intersection of rue des Chapeliers, rue Buls, rue de la Tête d'Or, rue au Beurre, rue Chair et Pain, rue des Harengs, and rue de la Colline, Lower Town, Brussels

Category: Squares
Location: Lower Town

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Fodor's Review:

This jewel box of a square is arguably Europe's most ornate and most theatrical. It's a vital part of the city—everyone passes through at some point. At night the burnished facades of the guild houses and their gilded statuary look especially dramatic: from April to September, the square is floodlighted after sundown with waves of changing colors, accompanied by music. Try to be here for the Ommegang, a magnificent historical pageant re-creating Emperor Charles V's reception in the city in 1549 (the first Tuesday and Thursday in July). You'll find here a flower market, frequent jazz and classical concerts, and in December, under the majestic Christmas tree, a life-size crèche with sheep grazing around it.

Built in ornate Baroque style soon after the 1695 bombardment, the square's guild houses have a striking architectural coherence. Among the buildings on the north side of the square, Nos. 1-2, Le Roy d'Espagne, belonged to the bakers' guild. A figure of Fame perches on its cupola. Le Sac, No. 4, commissioned by the guild of joiners and coopers, and No. 6, Le Cornet, built for the boatmen, were both designed by Antoon Pastorana, a gifted furniture maker. Le Renard, No. 7, was designed for the guild of haberdashers and peddlers; a sculpture of St. Christopher, their patron, stands on top of the gable. Le Cygne, No. 9, was formerly a butchers' guild. Today, it is an elegant restaurant, but before that it was a popular tavern often frequented by Karl Marx.