Hugo Carriço
Grand- Place - Brussels
Website:
visitbrussels.be/bitc/front/home/display/lg/en/section/vi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Place
english
The Grand Place (French, pronounced: [ɡʁɑ̃ plas]; also used in English[1]) or Grote Markt listen (help•info) (Dutch) is the central square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guildhalls, the city's Town Hall, and the Breadhouse (French: Maison du Roi, Dutch: Broodhuis). The square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels, along with the Atomium and Manneken Pis. It measures 68 by 110 metres (223 by 360 ft), and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History
In the 10th century, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine constructed a fort on Saint-Géry Island, the point at which the Senne river became navigable. This was the seed of what would become Brussels. By the end of the 11th century, an open-air marketplace was set up on a dried-up marsh near the fort that was surrounded by sandbanks. The market was called the Nedermerckt, or Lower Market.
The market likely developed around the same time as the commercial development of Brussels. A document from 1174 mentions a lower market (Latin: forum inferius) not far from the port on the Senne river. The market was well situated along the Steenweg (Dutch: Causeway), an important commercial road which connected the prosperous regions of the Rhineland and the County of Flanders.
At the beginning of the 13th century, three indoor markets were built on the northern edge of the Grand Place; a meat market, a bread market and a cloth market.[3] These buildings, which belonged to the Duke of Brabant, allowed the wares to be showcased even in bad weather, but also allowed the Dukes to keep track of the storage and sale of goods, in order to collect taxes. Other buildings, made of wood or stone, enclosed the Grand Place.
Improvements to the Grand Place from the 14th century onwards would mark the rise in importance of local merchants and tradesmen relative to the nobility. Short on money, the Duke transferred control of mills and commerce to the local authorities. The city of Brussels, as with the neighbouring cities of Mechelen and Leuven constructed a large indoor cloth market to the south of the square. At this point, the square was still haphazardly laid out, and the buildings along the edges had a motley tangle of gardens and irregular additions.[3] The city expropriated and demolished a number of buildings that clogged the Grand Place, and formally defined the edges of the square.
The Brussels City Hall was built on the south side of the square in stages between 1401 and 1455, and made the Grand Place the seat of municipal power. It towers 96 metres (315 ft) high, and is capped by a 3 metre (12 ft) statue of Saint Michael slaying a demon. To counter this symbol of municipal power, from 1504 to 1536 the Duke of Brabant built a large building across from the city hall as symbol of ducal power.[3] It was built on the site of the first cloth and bread markets, which were no longer in use, and it became known as the King's House (Middle Dutch: 's Conincxhuys), although no king has ever lived there. It is currently known as the Maison du roi (King's House) in French, though in Dutch it continues to be called the Broodhuis (Breadhouse), after the market whose place it took. Wealthy merchants and the increasingly powerful guilds of Brussels built houses around the edge of the square.
On August 13, 1695, a 70,000-strong French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi began a bombardment of Brussels in an effort to draw the League of Augsburg's forces away from their siege on French-held Namur in what is now southern Belgium. The French launched a massive bombardment of the mostly defenseless city centre with cannons and mortars, setting it on fire and flattening the majority of the Grand Place and the surrounding city. Only the stone shell of the town hall and a few fragments of other buildings remained standing. That the town hall survived at all is ironic, as it was the principal target of the artillery fire.
The square was rebuilt in the following four years by the city's guilds. Their efforts were regulated by the city councillors and the Governor of Brussels, who required that their plans be submitted to the authorities for their approval. This helped to deliver a remarkably harmonious layout for the rebuilt Grand Place, despite the ostensibly clashing combination of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles.
In the late 18th century, revolutionaries sacked the Grand Place, destroying statues of nobility and symbols of Christianity.[2] The guildhalls were seized by the state and sold. The buildings were neglected and left in poor condition, with their façades painted, stuccoed and damaged by pollution. In the late 19th century, mayor Charles Buls had the Grand Place returned to its former splendour, with buildings being reconstructed or restored.
The Grand Place continued to serve as a market until November 19, 1959, and it is still called the Grote Markt or Great Market in Dutch. Neighbouring streets still reflect the area's origins, named after the sellers of butter, cheese, herring, coal and so on. The Grand Place was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1998. One of the houses was owned by the brewers' guild, and is now the home of a brewers' museum.
Brussels Grand-Place has recently been voted the most beautiful square in Europe. A survey by a Dutch website (stedentripper.com) asked its users to rate different squares across Europe. Moscow’s Red Square and the Place Stanislas in Nancy, France, took second and third place.
Português
A Grand-Place de Bruxelas (neerlandês: Grote Markt; português: Praça Grande) é a praça central de Bruxelas. Nela ficam o Hotel da Cidade e a Casa do Rei. Alguns autores, entre os quais Victor Hugo, considerada a mais bela praça do mundo. Foi inscrita em 1998 na lista de Património Mundial da UNESCO.
A Grand Place é o centro geográfico, histórico e comercial de Bruxelas, e o primeiro local a ser visitado por quase todos os turistas. Esta movimentada praça empedrada mantém-se o centro cívico da cidade, passados séculos da sua criação, e o melhor exemplo da arquitectura belga do século XVII. No século XI realizavam-se mercados ao ar livre e no final do século XIV foi construída a Câmara Municipal de Bruxelas, o Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), e os comerciantes acrescentaram sedes de guildas numa mistura de estilos. Em 1695, dois dias de intensos bombardeamentos franceses destruíram tudo excepto a Câmara Municipal e duas fachadas de guildas. Os comerciantes reconstruíram as suas salas em estilos aprovados pelo Conselho Municipal, originando a harmoniosa unidade de edifícios da Renascença flamenga que vemos hoje.
Cronologia
Século XII: a praça já existia; onde hoje é a Casa do Rei existia um edifício em madeira onde se vendia pão, daí o seu nome actual em neerlandês: Broodhuis
1402-1459: construção da Câmara Municipal (Brussels Town Hall). Em 1401 foi colocada a primeira pedra e apenas em 1459 se deu a construção por totalmente concluída, sendo considerado o mais belo edifício cívico da Bélgica, estatuto que goza ainda hoje. Jacques van Thienen foi encarregado de desenhar a ala oeste e o campanário do edifício, onde usou colunas decoradas, esculturas, torreões e arcadas. A torre e a flecha iniciadas em 1449 por Jan van Ruysbroeck ajudaram a firmar a sua reputação.
1523: os primeiros mártires protestantes, Henri Voes e Jean Van Eschen, são queimados pela Inquisição espanhola
1695: a maior parte das casas, construídas em madeira, foram destruídas a 13 de Agosto num bombardeamento pelas tropas francesas comandadas pelo Marechal de Villeroy
1873: construção da actual Casa do Rei em Estilo Neo-gótico
Grand- Place - Brussels
Website:
visitbrussels.be/bitc/front/home/display/lg/en/section/vi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Place
english
The Grand Place (French, pronounced: [ɡʁɑ̃ plas]; also used in English[1]) or Grote Markt listen (help•info) (Dutch) is the central square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guildhalls, the city's Town Hall, and the Breadhouse (French: Maison du Roi, Dutch: Broodhuis). The square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels, along with the Atomium and Manneken Pis. It measures 68 by 110 metres (223 by 360 ft), and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History
In the 10th century, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine constructed a fort on Saint-Géry Island, the point at which the Senne river became navigable. This was the seed of what would become Brussels. By the end of the 11th century, an open-air marketplace was set up on a dried-up marsh near the fort that was surrounded by sandbanks. The market was called the Nedermerckt, or Lower Market.
The market likely developed around the same time as the commercial development of Brussels. A document from 1174 mentions a lower market (Latin: forum inferius) not far from the port on the Senne river. The market was well situated along the Steenweg (Dutch: Causeway), an important commercial road which connected the prosperous regions of the Rhineland and the County of Flanders.
At the beginning of the 13th century, three indoor markets were built on the northern edge of the Grand Place; a meat market, a bread market and a cloth market.[3] These buildings, which belonged to the Duke of Brabant, allowed the wares to be showcased even in bad weather, but also allowed the Dukes to keep track of the storage and sale of goods, in order to collect taxes. Other buildings, made of wood or stone, enclosed the Grand Place.
Improvements to the Grand Place from the 14th century onwards would mark the rise in importance of local merchants and tradesmen relative to the nobility. Short on money, the Duke transferred control of mills and commerce to the local authorities. The city of Brussels, as with the neighbouring cities of Mechelen and Leuven constructed a large indoor cloth market to the south of the square. At this point, the square was still haphazardly laid out, and the buildings along the edges had a motley tangle of gardens and irregular additions.[3] The city expropriated and demolished a number of buildings that clogged the Grand Place, and formally defined the edges of the square.
The Brussels City Hall was built on the south side of the square in stages between 1401 and 1455, and made the Grand Place the seat of municipal power. It towers 96 metres (315 ft) high, and is capped by a 3 metre (12 ft) statue of Saint Michael slaying a demon. To counter this symbol of municipal power, from 1504 to 1536 the Duke of Brabant built a large building across from the city hall as symbol of ducal power.[3] It was built on the site of the first cloth and bread markets, which were no longer in use, and it became known as the King's House (Middle Dutch: 's Conincxhuys), although no king has ever lived there. It is currently known as the Maison du roi (King's House) in French, though in Dutch it continues to be called the Broodhuis (Breadhouse), after the market whose place it took. Wealthy merchants and the increasingly powerful guilds of Brussels built houses around the edge of the square.
On August 13, 1695, a 70,000-strong French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi began a bombardment of Brussels in an effort to draw the League of Augsburg's forces away from their siege on French-held Namur in what is now southern Belgium. The French launched a massive bombardment of the mostly defenseless city centre with cannons and mortars, setting it on fire and flattening the majority of the Grand Place and the surrounding city. Only the stone shell of the town hall and a few fragments of other buildings remained standing. That the town hall survived at all is ironic, as it was the principal target of the artillery fire.
The square was rebuilt in the following four years by the city's guilds. Their efforts were regulated by the city councillors and the Governor of Brussels, who required that their plans be submitted to the authorities for their approval. This helped to deliver a remarkably harmonious layout for the rebuilt Grand Place, despite the ostensibly clashing combination of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles.
In the late 18th century, revolutionaries sacked the Grand Place, destroying statues of nobility and symbols of Christianity.[2] The guildhalls were seized by the state and sold. The buildings were neglected and left in poor condition, with their façades painted, stuccoed and damaged by pollution. In the late 19th century, mayor Charles Buls had the Grand Place returned to its former splendour, with buildings being reconstructed or restored.
The Grand Place continued to serve as a market until November 19, 1959, and it is still called the Grote Markt or Great Market in Dutch. Neighbouring streets still reflect the area's origins, named after the sellers of butter, cheese, herring, coal and so on. The Grand Place was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1998. One of the houses was owned by the brewers' guild, and is now the home of a brewers' museum.
Brussels Grand-Place has recently been voted the most beautiful square in Europe. A survey by a Dutch website (stedentripper.com) asked its users to rate different squares across Europe. Moscow’s Red Square and the Place Stanislas in Nancy, France, took second and third place.
Português
A Grand-Place de Bruxelas (neerlandês: Grote Markt; português: Praça Grande) é a praça central de Bruxelas. Nela ficam o Hotel da Cidade e a Casa do Rei. Alguns autores, entre os quais Victor Hugo, considerada a mais bela praça do mundo. Foi inscrita em 1998 na lista de Património Mundial da UNESCO.
A Grand Place é o centro geográfico, histórico e comercial de Bruxelas, e o primeiro local a ser visitado por quase todos os turistas. Esta movimentada praça empedrada mantém-se o centro cívico da cidade, passados séculos da sua criação, e o melhor exemplo da arquitectura belga do século XVII. No século XI realizavam-se mercados ao ar livre e no final do século XIV foi construída a Câmara Municipal de Bruxelas, o Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), e os comerciantes acrescentaram sedes de guildas numa mistura de estilos. Em 1695, dois dias de intensos bombardeamentos franceses destruíram tudo excepto a Câmara Municipal e duas fachadas de guildas. Os comerciantes reconstruíram as suas salas em estilos aprovados pelo Conselho Municipal, originando a harmoniosa unidade de edifícios da Renascença flamenga que vemos hoje.
Cronologia
Século XII: a praça já existia; onde hoje é a Casa do Rei existia um edifício em madeira onde se vendia pão, daí o seu nome actual em neerlandês: Broodhuis
1402-1459: construção da Câmara Municipal (Brussels Town Hall). Em 1401 foi colocada a primeira pedra e apenas em 1459 se deu a construção por totalmente concluída, sendo considerado o mais belo edifício cívico da Bélgica, estatuto que goza ainda hoje. Jacques van Thienen foi encarregado de desenhar a ala oeste e o campanário do edifício, onde usou colunas decoradas, esculturas, torreões e arcadas. A torre e a flecha iniciadas em 1449 por Jan van Ruysbroeck ajudaram a firmar a sua reputação.
1523: os primeiros mártires protestantes, Henri Voes e Jean Van Eschen, são queimados pela Inquisição espanhola
1695: a maior parte das casas, construídas em madeira, foram destruídas a 13 de Agosto num bombardeamento pelas tropas francesas comandadas pelo Marechal de Villeroy
1873: construção da actual Casa do Rei em Estilo Neo-gótico