Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Route Overview:
From Place Royale, walk south along the ridge,
popping into a stained-glass-filled Gothic church, and on to
the best view of the city from the towering Palace of Justice.
Then backtrack a bit and descend through the well-worn tap-
estries of the Sablon Quarter's antiques, art, and cafés, and
down to the
Manneken-Pis
at the foot of the hill.
THE WALK BEGINS
Q
Place Royale
At the crest of the hill sits Place Royale, encircled by cars and
trams and enclosed by white, Neoclassical buildings forming a
mirror image around a cobblestone square. A big, green statue of a
horseman stands in the center.
The statue—a Belgium-born Crusader, Godfrey de Bouillon
(who led the First Crusade, in 1096)—rides forward carrying a
flag, gazing down on the Town
Hall spire. If Godfrey turned
and looked left down Rue de la
Régence, he'd see the domed
Palace of Justice at the end of
the boulevard. Over his right
shoulder, just outside the square,
is the Royal Palace, the king's
residence.
In the 1800s, as Belgium
exerted itself to industrialize and modernize, this area was rebuilt
as a sign that Brussels had arrived as a world capital. Broad vistas
down wide boulevards ending in gleaming white, Greek-columned
monuments—the look was all the rage, seen in Paris, London,
Washington, D.C....and here.
The cupola of the Church of St. Jacques sur Coudenberg—the
central portion of the square's ring of buildings—makes the church
look more like a bank building. But St. Jacques' church goes back
much further than this building (from 1787); it originated in the
13th century near a 12th-century castle. Nobles chose to build
their mansions in the neighborhood, and later, so did the king.
The Musical Instruments Museum (see page 391) is 30 yards
downhill from the square, housed in an early-20th-century, iron-
and-glass former department store. Its Art Nouveau facade was a
deliberate attempt to get beyond the retro-looking Greek columns
and domes of the Place Royale. Even if you don't visit the museum,
you can ride the elevator up to the museum café for a superb Lower
Town view.
• Brussels' world-class Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium are 30
yards south of Place Royale on Rue de la Régence. But before heading
