of modern pictures. The only other “hotel” or palace in Brussels is that of the duke d’Arenberg. In the 16th century this was the residence of Count Egmont, but very little of the building of his day remains. In the same street, the rue des Petits Carmes, was the Hôtel Culembourg in which the famous oath of the beggars was taken. It has long been demolished and the new barracks of the Grenadier regiment have been erected on the site.
The only other buildings of importance dating from medieval times are the three churches of Ste Gudule (often erroneously called the cathedral), Notre-Dame des Victoires or Church of the Sablon, and Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, or simply la Chapelle, and the hotel de ville and the Maison du Roi on the Grand Place. The church of Ste Gudule, also dedicated to St Michael, is built on the side of the hill originally called St Michael’s Mount, and now covered by the fashionable quarters which are included under the comprehensive description, of the Upper Town. It was begun about the year 1220, and is considered one of the finest specimens left of pointed Gothic. It is said to have been completed in 1273, with the exception of the two towers which were added in the 14th or 15th century. Some of the stained glass is very rich, dating from the 13th to the 15th century. In many of the windows there are figures of leading members of the houses of Burgundy and Habsburg. The curious oak pulpit representing Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden came originally from the Jesuit church at Louvain, and is considered the masterpiece of Verbruggen. The church of the Sablon is said to have been founded in 1304 by the gild of Crossbowmen to celebrate the battle of Woeringen. In a side chapel is a fine monument to the princely family of Thurn and Taxis, which had the monopoly of the postal service in the old empire. La Chapelle is still older, dating nominally from 1210, the choir and transept being considered to date from about fifty years later. There are some fine monuments, especially one to the duke de Croy who died in 1624. The two churches last named have undergone much renovation both outside and inside.
The Grand Place is by its associations one of the most interesting public squares in Europe. On its flags were fought out many feuds between rival gilds; Egmont and Horn, and many other gallant men whose names have been forgotten, were executed here under the shadow of its ancient buildings, and in more recent times Dumouriez proclaimed the French Republic where the dukes of Brabant and Burgundy were wont to hold their jousts. Apart from its associations the Grand Place contains two of the finest and most ornate buildings not merely in the capital but in Belgium. Of these the hôtel de ville, which is far the larger of the two, occupies the greater part of the south side of the square. Its facade has the disadvantage of having had one half begun about half a century before the other. The older, which is the richer in design, forms the left side of the building and dates from 1410, while the right, less rich and shorter, was begun in 1443. The fine tower, 360 ft. in height, is crowned by the golden copper figure of St Michael, 16 ft. in height, erected here as early as 1454. This tower lies behind the extremity of the left wing of the building. Opposite the town-hall is the smaller but extremely ornate Maison du Roi. This was never a royal residence as the name would seem to imply, but its description appears to have been derived from the fact that it was usually in this building that the royal address was read to the states-general. As this building was almost destroyed by Villeroi’s bombardment it possesses no claim to antiquity, indeed the existing building was only completed in 1877. Egmont and Horn were sentenced in the hôtel de ville, and passed their last night in the Maison du Roi.
Among the principal buildings erected in the city during the 18th century are the king’s palace and the house of parliament or Palais de la Nation, which face the south and north sides of the park respectively. The palace occupies part of the site covered by the old palace burnt down in 1731, and it was built in the reign of the empress Maria Theresa. It originally consisted of two detached buildings, but in 1826–1827 King William I. of the Netherlands caused them to be connected. The palace contains two fine rooms used for court ceremonies, and a considerable number of pictures. In 1904 a bill was passed in the chambers for the enlargement and embellishment of the palace. The adjacent buildings, viz. the department of the civil list, formerly the residence of the marquis d’Assche, and the Hôtel de Bellevue, held under a kind of perpetual lease granted by the empress Maria Theresa, were absorbed in the palace, and a new façade was constructed which occupies the entire length of the Place du Palais. At the same time a piece was cut off the park to prevent the undue contraction of the Place by the necessary bringing forward of the palace, and the pits which played a certain part in the revolution of 1830 when the Dutch defended the park for a few days against the Belgians were filled up. The Palais de la Nation was constructed between 1779 and 1783, also during the Austrian period. It was intended for the states-general and government offices. During the French occupation the law courts sat there, and from 1817 to 1830 it was assigned for the sittings of the states-general. It is now divided between the senate and the chamber of representatives. In 1833 the part assigned to the latter was burnt out, and has since been reconstructed. The buildings flanking the chambers and nearer the park are government offices with residences for the ministers attached.
The improvements effected in Brussels during the 19th century were enormous, and completely transformed the city. The removal of the old wall was followed by the creation of the quartier Léopold, and at a later period of the quartier Louis in the Upper Town. In the lower, under the energetic direction of two burgomasters, De Brouckere and Anspach, not less sweeping changes were effected. The Senne was bricked in, and the fine boulevards du Nord, Anspach, Hainaut and Midi took the place of slums. The Bourse and the post-office are two fine modern buildings in this quarter of the city. The Column of the Congress—i.e. of the Belgian representatives who founded the kingdom of Belgium—surmounted by a statue of King Leopold I., was erected in 1859, and in 1866 the foundation-stone was laid of the Palais de Justice, which was not finished till 1883, at a cost of sixty million francs. This edifice, the design of the architect Poelaert, is in the style of Karnak and Nineveh, but surmounted with a dome, and impresses by its grandiose proportions (see Architecture, Plate XI. fig. 121). It is well placed on the brow of the hill at the southern extremity of the rue de la Régence (the prolongation of the rue Royale), and can be seen from great distances. In the rue de la Régence are the new picture gallery, a fine building with an exceedingly good collection of pictures, the palace of the count of Flanders, and the garden of the Petit Sablon, which contains statues of Egmont and Horn, and a large number of statuettes representing the various gilds and handicrafts. Immediately above this garden is the Palais d’Arenberg. Perhaps the memorial that attracts the greatest amount of public interest in Brussels is that to the Belgians who were killed during the fighting with the Dutch in September 1830. This has been erected in a little square called the Place des Martyrs, not far from the Monnaie theatre. Outside Brussels at Evere is the chief cemetery, with fine monuments to the British officers killed at Waterloo (removed from the church in that village), to the French soldiers who died on Belgian soil in 1870–71, and another to the Prussians.
Many as were the changes in Brussels during the 19th century, those in progress at its close and at the beginning of the 20th have effected a marked alteration in the town. These have been rendered possible only by the excellent system of electric tramways which have brought districts formerly classed as pure country within reach of the citizens. The construction of the fine Avenue de Louise (112 m. long) from the Boulevard de Waterloo to the Bois de la Cambre was the first of these efforts to bring the remote suburbs within easy reach, at the same time furnishing an approach to the “bois” of Brussels that might in some degree be compared with the Champs Élysées in Paris. Another avenue of later construction (612 m. in length) connects the park of the Cinquantenaire with Tervueren. This route is extremely
