Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Grand Place Walk
1695—the year French king Louis XIV's troops surrounded the
city, sighted their cannons on the Town Hall spire, and managed
to level everything around it (4,000 wooden buildings) without
ever hitting the spire itself. As a matter of pride, these Brussels
businessmen rebuilt their offices better than ever, completing
everything within seven years. They're in stone, taller, and with
ornamented gables and classical statues.
The
Swan House
(#9, just to the left of the Town Hall)
once housed a bar where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels met