Grand Place (Grote Markt)

The Grand Place, known in Dutch as the Grote Markt, is the ceremonial heart of Brussels and one of the most admired public squares in Belgium. Set in the Historic Centre at Grand-Place, 1000 Brussels, the cobbled rectangle is enclosed by the Gothic Town Hall with its slender spire, the neo-Gothic Maison du Roi (home to the City Museum) and a continuous row of guildhalls whose gilded gables date largely from the rebuilding that followed the French bombardment of 1695. UNESCO lists the square for the harmony of its mix of public and private buildings. Visitors mainly come to stand in the middle of the square and turn slowly, taking in the sculpted facades, the golden statuary and the carved stonework of each guildhouse, which once housed the brewers, bakers, boatmen and other trades of the city. The Town Hall can be toured with a guide, and the City Museum inside the Maison du Roi displays the costume wardrobe of Manneken Pis along with historic city artefacts. Most visits last one to two hours, which allows time for the square itself, a coffee or a Belgian beer at a terrace, and a walk into the surrounding lanes. The best photographs are taken early in the morning, when the square is almost empty and the light falls on the east-facing gables, and again after dark, when the guildhalls are floodlit. Midday and summer afternoons bring the heaviest crowds, and tour groups cluster around the Town Hall steps. In even-numbered years in August, the square is covered by the Flower Carpet, a huge temporary tapestry of begonias that is best viewed from the Town Hall balcony. A sound-and-light show and seasonal markets in December also draw large numbers. The square is reached on foot from Gare Centrale in about five minutes, or via the Bourse premetro stop.