Brussels Things to Do Tips by filipdebont

The Grand-Place or the big Market Square (de Grote Markt) is a magnificent place to start your visit.

The Grote Markt is surrounded by magnificent old buildings; you can not miss the beautiful City Hall, the House of the King, which now is museum where you can see the complete collection of Brussels inhabitant Nr 1 : Manneken Pis, the Houses of the Dukes of Brabant.

And only a few steps further you can see the most famous Belgian : Manneken Pis.

If you are lucky to visit the Market at the right moment, you can see a big flower carpet at the Grote Markt (third weekend of August, every 2 years).

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The magnificent City Hall at The Grote Markt.

It dates from the 13th and the 15th century and it is built in a pure gothic style. The tower on top of the building is built by Van Ruysbroek (height 96 m)

On top is the figure of the Archangel Michael who is fighting the dragon is made of copper.

This is a postcard, as the weather was very bad; it was to dark to make a decent picture.

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Opposite the beautiful City Hall, there is another remarkable building: the House of the King.

It is built in the 19th century, the design dates from the 16th century. It was the bread house and later on the house of the Duke. So there never lived a King in this building.

Nowadays it is used as Museum of Brussels.
Here you can learn more on the history of the city and the industrial art.

On the second floor you can see the costumes of Manneken Pis.

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Address: Grote Markt
Website: http://www.ilotsacre.be

Oh, what a great piece of fine architecture. This House of the Dukes of Brabant, located on the Grote Markt.

This impressive front house (1698) with a beautifully sculptured fronton, was designed by the Italian architect Palladio.

It looks as it is one big house, but in fact it houses six different Guild Houses.

The pilasters are decorated with busts of the Dukes of Brabant.

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Address: Grote Markt
Website: http://www.ilotsacre.be

This kind of a unique market square. It is surrounded by great architecture.

It is great to visit the big market square (De Grote Markt - La Grande Place) on a Saturday or Sunday morning, when there is a flower market going on., or why not at night to see the lightened house fronts with all the gilded decorations.

The Grote Markt is surrounded by Gild houses which date from the 17th century and which were restored in the 19th century.

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Address: Grote Markt - La Grande Place

The Grote Markt is surrounded by beautiful guild houses. The picture shows you the short Market side, on the right hand side when you stand with your face towards the City hall.

Each Guild had its own Guild house.

From right to left you see:
- The king of Spain or the Bakery house, with a dome with a gilded wind vane.
- The wheelbarrow, also named the Vettewariershouse.
- The Bag, the house of the Cabinetmakers and the Coopers.
- The She-Wolf, former possession of the crossbow shooting guild. Above the entrance you can see Remus and Romulus, breastfed by a she-wolf.
- The Horn, house of the ship's guild
- The Fox, house of the thread and band sellers.

You can see each house has its own history.

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The Grote Markt is completely surrounded by magnificent Guild Houses, if you love great architecture this is the place to be.

The picture shows the guild houses on the left side of the Kings House.

- The Golden Longboat, house of the Tailors
- The Dove, house of the Painters
- The small room of the Amman, the Amman was Magistrate which represented the Duke of Brabant in the middle Ages.

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Address: Grote Markt

Manneken Pis, you can see him on the corner of the Stoofstraat and the Eikstraat.

This is the most photographed spot in Brussels.

Sometime this statue was used in a candid camera show. The strength of his water jet was controlled with a remote control.

So every time tourist passed at this point, the jet became stronger, and like this the tourist faded because of the falling water. That looked very funny.

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Address: corner of Stoofstraat and Eikstraat.

A closer view at Manneken Pis.

On different occasions this Manneken Pis, which the most famous inhabitant of Brussels, gets a costume.

Like when a football team wins the championship, then they dress up Manneken Pis in the colours of that club.

Like this Manneken Pis has a complete wardrobe with all kind of uniforms, and sports outfits, and foreign local dresses.

His clothing collection can be seen in a museum at the Grote Markt.

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In the previous tip I have told you on the different dresses and uniforms of Manneken Pis.
So here you can see some of his dresses and costumes.

You can see this collection in the House of the Kings, second floor, at the Grote Markt (La Grande Place).

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Address: Corner of Rue de l' Etuve and Rue du Chene