As you can see, almost every surface is heavily ornate and intricately decorated. What an artwork! My daughter and I got the opportunity to get inside and were mesmerized by the grandiosity of it.
Brussels Town Hall is one of Belgium's finest civic buildings. Not only because of the numerous sculptures adorning its walls, but also because of its perfect proportions and the incomparable beauty of its tower, the spire of which is topped by the archangel Saint-Michael. Brussels laid the foundation stone of the magnificent Gothic edifice in the spring of 1402.
The facade is decorated with numerous statues representing nobles, saints, and allegorical figures. The present sculptures are reproductions; the older ones are in the city museum in the King's House across the Grand Place.
In 1695, when the city was bombarded by Marshal de Villeroy, the Town Hall was destroyed by fire. Its reception rooms and aldermen's offices contain fine Brussels tapestries from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, sumptuous Gothic wooden panelling,the insignia of ancient guilds and paintings from the collections at the Town Hall Museum. - visit.brussels
According to wikipedia:
The Town Hall is asymmetrical, since the tower is not exactly in the middle of the building and the left part and the right part are not identical (although they seem at first sight). An old legend known to the people of Brussels tells that the architect who designed the building committed suicide by jumping from the top of the belfry after realising his "mistake". In fact, the two parts were not built together.
0 comments:
Post a Comment