Old Town The first man exited Kaempff-Kohler via the side door which led into Place Guilliam (technically Guilliam II, and referred to locally as the Knuedler, after the knot in the belt of Franciscan friars who resided at the monastery which originally occupied the site). If one described Place d’Armes as vibrant, carefree and energetic, then the Knuedler behaved as an elder brother: serious, responsible and with a sense of civic duty. During the French Revolution, Napoleon kicked out the friars and in 1804 turned the land over to the city. Now, on the east side of the Knuedler stood the equestrian statue of the man for whom the square was named. And on the south west side stood the Hôtel de Ville, built to a design of Justin Remont, and built of materials scavenged from the old monastery. Despite the name, the Hôtel de Ville is not really a hotel but the neoclassical City Hall, completed in 1838, officially opened in 1844, and fronted by two bronze lions designed by Auguste Trémont, now green with age and roaring silently with open mouths and blank stares. Until the Second World War, when the Germans occupied the building and converted it into additional office space, the Hôtel de Ville served as an extension of the Farmer’s Market and wooden stands full of fruit and vegetables filled the basement. After the war, in 1952, the Hôtel de Ville hosted the first meeting of the High Commission of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the forerunner of today’s European Union (EU). Today being Wednesday, the stands of the Farmer’s Market now occupied the square, but the basement of City Hall no longer played a part. Two days a week (the other, Saturday) the farmers came to town to sell their produce, so fresh that the morning dew still clung to them. The man stopped and bought a few vegetables and added them to the Kaempff-Kohler bag which contained a little Roquefort cheese and a French baguette.
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