Place du Grand Sablon and Notre-Dame du Sablon

Place du Grand Sablon is a sloping square in the Sablon district of Brussels, between the Lower Town and the Upper Town. It is known for its antique dealers, chocolate shops and cafes, and for the Gothic church of Notre-Dame du Sablon at the upper end. The square's character dates to the Middle Ages, when the area was a sandy marshland, and it became a fashionable address for aristocrats in later centuries. Today antique shops and galleries line the streets around the square, and the weekend antiques market is a main attraction: on Saturday it runs from about 09:00 to 18:00 and on Sunday from about 09:00 to 14:00, with stalls offering furniture, jewellery, books and curiosities. Chocolatiers including Wittamer and Pierre Marcolini have shops on the square, and the nearby cafes serve coffee and waffles. Notre-Dame du Sablon, built mainly in the 15th century in Brabantine Gothic style, has a tall nave, large windows with 19th-century stained glass, and chapels with baroque additions. Entry to the church is free and visitors can walk around the interior. Across the road, the Petit Sablon garden is a small park ringed by iron railings and topped with 48 statuettes representing medieval guilds, with a fountain monument to the Counts of Egmont and Hoorn. A visit takes about one hour, though antique browsing can easily stretch longer. Weekend mornings are the liveliest and best for the market, but weekday mornings are the quietest for photographs of the church and square. Tram lines 92, 93 and 94 stop at Petit Sablon, and the Gare Centrale is a ten-minute walk. The square sits close to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts and Mont des Arts, which makes it an easy extension to a day of sightseeing in Brussels, Belgium.