Hôtel de Ville, Brussels — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) is the only surviving medieval building on the Grand-Place and one of the finest examples of Brabantine Gothic civil architecture in Europe. Construction began in 1401, with the east wing probably designed by Jacob van Thienen. A second wing was added when Duke Charles the Bold laid the first stone in 1444. The spire towers 96 meters above the Grand-Place, crowned with a 2.7-meter gilt statue of Saint Michael slaying a dragon. During the devastating French bombardment of 1695, the attacking forces actually used the tower as their aiming point. Ironically, the bombardment destroyed nearly everything around it while the tower itself survived, standing defiant above the ruins. Between 1844 and 1902, nearly 300 stone statues were added to the facade, carved by famous sculptors in Caen and Echaillon stone. These figures represent dukes, duchesses, saints, and allegorical figures, creating a vertical encyclopedia of Brussels history. The Town Hall has served as the seat of municipal power for over 600 years. It housed the magistrate and the States of Brabant until 1795, served as the provisional government headquarters during the Belgian Revolution of 1830, and was even used as a makeshift hospital when refugees flooded Brussels during World War I. Standing at the base of the tower and looking up, you feel the ambition of the medieval craftsmen who built something designed to last forever. A Questo quest through the Grand-Place reveals the stories behind each building, with the Town Hall as the oldest and most dramatic of them all.