Travel Guide > Brussels

Because of its growing importance, the first St. Gudula church originally built in romanesque style was transformed in Gothic style as from the 13th century. The foundations of the first church can still be seen under the crypt of the Gothic cathedral. The Gothic choir was constructed between 1226 and 1276 nave and transept in the middle of the 15th century. The western facade, completed between 1450 and 1490 follows the example of the French Gothic facades. Via a large staircase (built in 1861 the three gates of the entrance can be reached. Inside, 12 pillars clearly determine the interior of the cathedral, whereas the triforia and glass-stained windows accentuate the later Gothic style which allowed more light to fall in to the church. The choir is darker because of the smaller window openings. In the northern chapel on the left side of the choir, one can see the portraits of several kings and emperors who bestowed the richly decorated glass-stained windows: Joao III of portugal, Louis of Hungary, François I of France and Ferdinand I. In the choir the windows of the following rulers can be seen: Maximilian of Austria, Philip the Beautiful, Charles V, Philip II of Spain, Philibert of Savoy with his wife Margaret of Austria. All through the 20th century the cathedral was almost continuously renovated. The renovation was completed in December 1999 when the marriage of the Belgian crown prince Philippe with his bride Princess Mathilda took place there, on the 4th of December.

The two monuments are located on the northern corner of the Royal Park .After his visit to the 1900 universal exhibition in Paris king Leopold II decided to have his park embellished with exotic monuments. He ordered the Parisian architect Alexandre Marcel to construct the Japanese tower and the Chinese pavilion. The entrance to the Japanese tower was built as a replica of the Japanese Pavilion at the Paris exhibitionthat had been constructed by a Japanese carpenter. The woodwork of both buildings was constructed by specialists from Yokohama and Shanghai.

In Brussels the guilds built their houses around the main town square. After the French bombardment of August 1695 the city ordered the guilds to submit the restoration plans of the houses before a final approval could be given for the construction. Because of this decision, the unity of style has been preserved and former irregularities done away with. In the Middle Ages no house numbers were given, only names. There were so few stone houses that most people could locate a house just by its name. On the Grand-Place the names of the houses are often indicated by a little statue or some part of the decoration. Here follows a list of the houses with their names and eventual specific historic details. The list starts at the group of houses on the left side of the Town Hall and continues clockwise: The mountain of Thabor - the rose -the golden tree - the swan (now an upscale restaurant "La Maison du Cygne (House of the Swan). The star (in the middle ages this house was occupied by the amman, the duke's representative in the city. Under the arcade is a statue of Everard 't Serclaes, a medieval Brussels hero. Legend has it that hitting the arm of the statue brings luck. ) (The Town Hall)- the fox (house of the Traders Guild with the statue of St. Nicolas on top) - the horn (House of the Sailors. The upper floor looks like the rear end of a ship) - the She-wolf - the Sack - the Wheelbarrow The King of Spain (house of the Guild of the Bakers ) - the Mule - Saint Barbara - the Samaritan - the oak - the peacock - the helmet - (the king's house) - - the Merchand of Gold - the pigeon - the golden sloop - the angel - Joseph and Anna - the deer

The art nouveau style was popular in Europe, and especially in Brussels, between 1893 and 1918. The characteristics are: the use of industrial materials like steel and iron in the visible parts of houses, new movement of design asinspired by nature (e.g. the famous whiplash motive, which occurs very often in the Art nouveau style and especially in the work of Horta), decorative mosaics or sgraffito on the façades of houses, etc... Most of these principles can be seen applied in the Horta Museum's structure. This house also shows one of the great innovations of Horta: the rooms are built around a central hall. From the beautiful glass ceiling light falls into the house thereby creating a much more natural illumination of the building than was the case in the traditional late 19th century houses in Brussels and Belgium.

The Dutch name "Broodhuis" (I.e. bread house) clearly shows the origins of this building. In the beginning of the 13th century a wooden building stood in this spot from which the bakers sold their bread. In 1405 a stone building replaced the original wooden bread hall. During the early 15th century the bakers turned to selling their products from house to house, and the ancient bread hall was used more and more for administrative purposes by the duke of Brabant. It became known then as "Maison du roi" (the King's House). During the reign of Emperor Charles V, the king's house was rebuilt in Gothic style from 1515 until 1536.

After the French bombardment of 1695 the building was restored only as far as was necessary to keep it from collapsing. In the following centuries it was used for different purposes. In 1860 the mayor of Brussels, Jules Anspach convinced the city authorities to buy the old king's house which by then was in a sorry state. The entire building had to be rebuilt. The restoration was done in the then fashionable neo-Gothic style. On June the 2nd 1887 the king's house became the city Museum of Brussels. On exhibition are original statues from the Town Hall, as well as paintings, wall tapestries and artifacts which relate to the history of the city.

In addition to tapestries there are also many paintings displayed (among them a Wedding Procession attributed to Brueghel the elder), altar pieces, and goldsmith work. On the second floor one can see a collection of documents and miniature scale models which outline the development and growth of the city. The third floor shows the cultural, economic and social development of Brussels through historical documents, paintings, engravings, scientific documents and manuscripts. On this floor the wardrobe of Manneken pis can be seen. The little boy already possesses a collection of more than 650 costumes.

This Museum contains an extensive collection of excellent paintings from the low countries and the world. In the entrance hall several sculptures can be seen of Belgian and international sculptors (for example: Meunier, Lambeau, Rodin, etc.) The main accent, however, is on the collection of old masters with its 1200 paintings. On the first floor are the masterpieces of the 15th and 16th century. Among the famous names are: the Master of Flémalle, Rogier Van der Weyden, the Master of Aix, Barend Van Orley, Dirk Bouts, Hieronymus Bosch, Lucas Cranach and Quentin Metsys. The pride of the Museum is the Bruegel collection, of which the "Landscape With the Fall of Icarus" is considered to be one of the seven wonders of Belgium. Most visitors go directly to the Bruegel and Rubens rooms, but there are also works by Van Dyck, Bosch, the great Flemish primitives of the 15th century, and a fine collection of 19th-century works.

The 'modern masters' of the 19th century are located on the ground level of the Museum of Ancient Art , which can be reached via an underground passage between the two Museums. In the collection of the 20th century the following are represented : fauvism ( Wouters, Spilliaert, Auguste Oleffe, Ferdinand Shirren, Jean Brusselmans), surrealism: (Rene Magritte with 26 major works, Paul Delvaux, Max Ernst, Francis Picabia, Tanguy, etc), Futurism (Schmalzigaug, Prosper de Troyer), abstractionism (Peters, Victor Servranckx, Flouquet), young Belgian painters: (Louis Van Lint, Bonnet, Mendelson, Mortier, Delahaut), the Cobra Movement (with Karel Appel, Pierre Aleschinsky) and others such as Pol Dury, Christian Dotremont, Lacomblez. Among the modern sculptors whose works are displayed are: Wouters, Jespers, Cantré, Puvrez, Bury, Leplae, George Segal, Tony Cragg, Strebelle, Ubac.

Other permanent collections are:
The inhabitants of the seas of the jurassic and cretaceous eras; "Of Men and Mammoths" - The evolution of mankind, with special focus on ice-age men and their environment; The insect world (e.g. an animated termite mound); Whales - 18 skeletons; Mammals - on display are 80 of the 107 existing mammal families; The fauna in Belgium - with dioramas; Mineralogy - (also fragments of moon rock and meteorites). The new Arctic and Antarctic galleries are well presented and lead into the whale room where the skeleton of a blue whale is suspended from the ceiling.