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Grand-Place of Brussels

The Grand-Place is the central square of the City of Brussels and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1998. It is surrounded by three types of buildings: the Flamboyant Gothic town hall, the King's House, a 19th-century neo-Gothic reconstruction, and the guildhouses with Baroque facades, each with its own name and trade, such as Le Roy d'Espagne (bakers), Le Cornet (boatmen) or Le Renard (haberdashers). In August 1695 the French troops of Marshal Villeroy bombarded the city and destroyed almost all the houses; of the town hall the facade and the tower remained. The guilds rebuilt the houses in stone within a few years. The town hall tower is about 96 metres tall and is topped by a gilded Saint Michael of 2.7 metres slaying the devil; the original is kept in the City Museum. Every two years, in August, the square is covered with a carpet of begonias of about 24 by 77 metres.

Things to do at Grand-Place of Brussels: 4 missions

• Find three guild houses by nameWalk along the Baroque façades and find the houses of Le Roy d'Espagne, Le Cornet and Le Renard by reading their names on the façade.
• Photograph the King's House, in Neo-Gothic styleStand in front of the Neo-Gothic building on the opposite side from the town hall and frame its whole façade; it houses the City Museum.
• Look for the lions on the town hall porchLook at the porch of the town hall's left wing and find the two lions sitting on columns with the city's coat of arms, carved in 1869.
• Find the golden Saint Michael on the towerStand in the middle of the square and look at the top of the town hall tower for the golden figure of Saint Michael defeating the devil.

Near Grand-Place of Brussels

Source: Web oficial - Ciudad de Bruselas