Brussels City Hall

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Brussels City Hall guided tour

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aรงade facing Grand-Place The City Hall houses the offices of those tasked with running the city, as well as various meeting and reception rooms. Until the 19th century, the municipal government was also based there.

The wing to the right of the tower is shorter than the left wing, and reflects several architectural differences. This peculiarity can be explained by the fact that the building is actually the result of two distinct construction phases. Initially, (14011417/1421), the City Hall consisted of the current left wing only, as well as part of the tower, probably limited to the square base.

It was not until around twenty years later that it was decided to extend the building by adding a new right wing as well as a lanterned octagonal spire. Construction was completed in 1455 with the positioning of the statue of Saint Michael, the patron saint of Brussels and the official symbol of urban power at the pinnacle . The statue of the archangel brings the height of the building to just under 100 metres. The imposing dimensions of the building contribute to affirming the power of urban authority, particularly in relation to central power and other competing cities, such as Leuven.

Built in a Gothic style, the building was heavily restored in the 19th century; the myriad of neo-Gothic statues decorating the faรงades date from this period. Those situated on the floors looking onto the Grand-Place represent the sovereigns who reigned over the Brussels region from the ancestors of Charlemagne (7th-8th century) until Charles V (16th century), accompanied by members of their families.

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ourtyard

The vaulted passage beneath the tower leads to an inner courtyard. It is hemmed in by 15thcentury Gothic buildings forming an L, as well as a lower U-shaped wing dating back to the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, the main occupant of this second wing was the Estates of Brabant, an institution with jurisdiction over the entire duchy of Brabant, of which Brussels was one of the main cities.

The classical style building replaced the former 14th-century Cloth Hall which was destroyed along with most of the lower part of the city during the terrible bombardment by the troops of King Louis XIV of France in 1695.

Since the Estates of Brabant ceased to exist at the end of the 18th century, the building has been occupied by City Hall services. Insofar as the City Hall continues to be used on a day-today basis, our visit will be limited to certain rooms on the first floor, which are among the most beautiful. The mayor’s and aldermen’s offices are not accessible to the public.

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ortrait Gallery

This room contains paintings evoking the various figures who governed our regions from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century. Starting to the left of the stairs, we can see the first King of the Belgians, LĂŠopold I (1831-1865), the King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, William I (1815-1830), as well as Napoleon as First Consul in 1804.

The other portraits are of Hapsburg sovereigns, mainly from the House of Austria but also from the House of Spain. The Hapsburg Monarchy reigned over these regions in the 18th century and were represented there by governors general, whose portraits can also be seen. Charles of Lorraine acted as governor general from 1740 to 1780 during the reign of his sister-in-law Empress Maria Theresa.

The large painting on the right represents the stewards of the Willebroek canal posing in front of the lock that connects it to the Rupel, a river that flows into the Scheldt, allowing the canal to reach the important port of Antwerp. The canal was built by the City of Brussels between 1550 and 1561. It is an excellent example of canals of the time due to the innovative technology used to operate its locks.

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unicipal Council Chambers

This room was conceived at the beginning of the 18th century to host meetings of the Estates of Brabant. This institution, a distant ancestor of the modern parliament, reserved the power to accept or refuse requests for taxation or charges from the sovereign, at least where the territory of the former duchy of Brabant was concerned. The Estates of Brabant comprised representatives from the three orders of the Ancien RĂŠgime, namely clergy, nobility and the commons.

After the Estates of Brabant ended at the end of the 18th century, the room began to be used for the Municipal Council meetings of the City of Brussels in the 19th century. The mayor and aldermen sit at the back, and the municipal councillors sit to the left and right. The interpreter charged with simultaneously translating between French and Dutch sits in a plexiglass booth.

There are some chairs available for journalists and two benches for the public.

Only a few elements were added in the 19th and 20th centuries: the furniture, the large mirror at the back, the parquet and the lambrequins on the windows. The remaining sumptuous dĂŠcor dates back to the 18th century. It was designed by Victor Janssens in a moderate baroque style, also known as the classical or Louis XIV style.

The marble chimney is decorated with symbols of the first two orders of the Estates of Brabant: the clergy (cross and mitre) and the nobility (helmet and banner). Between the windows, allegorical figures highlight the coats of arms of the three largest cities in Brabant: Antwerp, Brussels and Leuven, whose delegates made up the commons.

On the ceiling, a trompe-l’œil illustrates an assembly of ancient gods. In the centre, Jupiter gives a crown to a female figure symbolising the duchy of Brabant, accompanied by a young person brandishing the lion-emblazoned standard of Brabant.

Three tapestries evoke key moments in the history of the duchy. They express the continued sovereignty over the territory, whatever the successive reigning dynasties.

• In 1430 Philip the Good pledged to respect the ‘Joyous Entry’, a medieval charter which made the counter-power of the Estates of Brabant official.

• In 1555, Charles V renounced his sovereignty over the regions, including Brabant, in favour of his son Philip. The abdication ceremony took place in the Aula Magna, the vast reception hall in his Brussels palace.

• The third tapestry is an allegory of the coronation of the Emperor Charles VI, the first member of the Austrian branch of the Hapsburg Monarchy to reign over the duchy of Brabant at the beginning of the 18th century, when the hall was built.

At the bottom right of the tapestry a mark can be seen attesting to the Brussels origin of the production: a red shield between two Bs (Brussels in Brabant) as well as a reference to the workshop: Leyniers et Reydams. Although Brussels tapestries, which saw their glory days between the 15th and 17th centuries, began to decline in the 18th century, these pieces show that exceptional quality was still produced.

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alle du Collège or Salle Maximilienne

This is the room where the mayor and aldermen meet to discuss their files, prepare projects to be submitted to the council, and determine the means of implementation. In the 18th century it served as a meeting room for those charged with the administration for the Estates of Brabant. It is decorated with less pomp than the previous room, destined for official assemblies.

The framed tapestries are part of a series of eight. They illustrate the life of Clovis, with his conversion to Christianity as a central theme. We can see: • The marriage of Clovis, king of the Franks, to the Christian princess Clothilde.

• Clovis’ baptism at Rheims by the bishop Rémi.

• Clovis and Clothilde’s wedding banquet • Clovis’ last wishes on his death bed.

Long ago, Brussels tapestries enjoyed an international reputation. They regularly used templates designed by renowned painters. The tapestries in this room were produced in this way at the beginning of the 18th century in the Brussels workshop Vanderborght, using templates made in the 17th century by French painter Charles Poërson. Unlike the tapestries in the preceding room, this series of tapestries was not specifically designed for this room. This explains why the tapestries are not presented in chronological order, as they had to fit in the space available. The four other tapestries in the series are located in the adjoining rooms (not open for visits).

The furniture dates from the 19th century, as does the double portrait of Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, who ruled over the region in the latter half of the 15th century. The portrait replaced an older painting with the same theme. The gilded bronze chandeliers were originally gaslit, as can be seen by their small taps.

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rangĂŠ Gallery

The gallery is named after the painter who in the 18th century, requested by the Estates of Brabat, painted the portraits of the sovereigns who had reigned over the duchy of Brabant during the course of the two previous centuries. The series, which serves to affirm the continuity of the dynasty, begins with Philip the Handsome, father of Charles V, and ends with Charles II of Spain.

More recently, the bust of the King of the Belgians LĂŠopold II (1865-1909) was added, as well as the bust of his wife Marie Henriette; King Albert (1909-1935) and Queen Elizabeth.

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ayor’s Antechamber

Formerly occupied by the secretary of the administration of the Estates of Brabant, this room is now a waiting room for the mayor’s visitors. The door to his office is at the other side on the right.

The wall covering comprises oak panels dating from the 19th century and a series of paintings by artist Jean-Baptiste Van Moer have been added. They offer a glimpse of what the neighbourhoods of the lower city looked like before the river Senne was covered and disappeared underground to make way for wide boulevards. These works, which took place between 1867 and 1871, responded not only to a need to end repeated floods and clean up areas considered insalubrious, but also in order to modernise the city centre and attract a new wealthier bourgeois population.

As the old townscape was vastly affected, Mayor Anspach, who was behind the covering of the Senne, commissioned the paintings to preserve the old town’s memory. Van Moer painted his oil paintings in his workshop based on his own sketches as well as photographs from the period. The impression conveyed by the photos is far less romantic than the impression conveyed by Van Moer’s paintings, as he preferred to represent them in a picturesque, sunny setting.

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ain Staircase

The staircase and landing installed at the end of the 19th century in place of the former offices that were destroyed for the purpose, constitute a solemn link between the two most important places in the City Hall: the mayor’s office and the enormous Gothic reception room.

The staircase and landing are decorated with painted canvases commissioned by the city from the artist Jacques de Lalaing on the theme of the �glorification of communal power�. The artist chose a very powerful symbolist style. The biggest canvas visible on the ceiling represents the municipal belfry (i.e. the tower, symbolising urban power), defended by citizens against attacks by winged female figures. These personify the scourges of pestilence, famine and war.

On the landing, another scene highlights a city representative proclaiming a decree to the assembled crowd. In the stairwell, the importance of economic activity for the development of the city is symbolized by the textile trade and port activities. In a roundel, the Mayor and engineer John Loquenghien are seen consulting the plans for the Willebroeck canal, providing a faster link between Brussels and Antwerp.

The mayors of Brussels since 1830 (the year Belgium became independent) are represented by a series of busts. These form a guard of honour accompanying visitors to the office of their current successor.

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othic Hall

As you enter this room, you step into the oldest part of the City Hall, built in the 15th century. This room is now used for conferences, concerts, conferences and other events. As in olden times, it also continues to serve as an area for formal receptions and ceremonies.

The interior of the medieval building was completely destroyed by fire during the 1695 bombardment and its original Gothic decoration disappeared. Its current dÊcor dates from the latter half of the 19th century. It is the result of the imagination of the architect of the city, Victor Jamaer, an enthusiast of the neo-Gothic movement, which draws its inspiration from the achievements of the Middle Ages. He also restored the exterior façades as well as the layout of the interior spaces. A monumental staircase was created, providing direct privileged access from the Grand-Place to the first floor of the City Hall. In its place there was originally a chapel.

The tapestries decorating the room represent medieval corporations especially active in the economy or the arts: masons, brewers, weavers, painters, embroiderers, goldsmiths. Each one is personified by a character wearing fashionable Renaissance finery representing his craft. At the entrance to the hall, two other tapestries feature military defence associations convening citizens using the same type of weapon: swordsmen, crossbowmen, archers and musketeers. The series, conceived in the 1880s by artist Guillaume Geets, had to be woven in Malines as none of the tapestry workshops that made Brussels famous remained in the city after the 18th century.

The gilded bronze statues and the coats of arms in the windows evoke various figures who, in the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly stood out for services rendered to the municipality. The room is dominated by an imposing statue of the archangel Michael, a character chosen as the symbol of the municipal power in the Middle Ages.

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edding Room

Just like the previous room, this room was entirely redecorated in a neo-Gothic style in the 19th century. The mural on the far wall is an allegory of the City of Brussels surrounded by the archangel Michael, who represents Justice and Law. These two symbolic values recall that this room was originally occupied by the court made up of members of the urban power. Following the annexation of our regions to the French Republic at the end of the 18th century, the municipal power lost its judicial authority but regained authority over civil matters from the hands of the Church. The room was thus converted to hold civil marriages. This new use is reflected in the furniture; in the embroidered canopy behind the alderman conducting the ceremony, as well as the numerous painted inscriptions (for example ‘Hier bindt de liefde u te gader’ meaning ‘Here love brings you together’).

The wooden statues lining the entrance to the room depict several personalities who participated in the intense intellectual life of the 15th and 16th centuries, including the painter Rogier van der Weyden. The remaining decorative elements recall the role and composition of municipal power in medieval times. The text on the beams lists a series of tips for the ideal administration of the city by its representatives. Like the other inscriptions in the room, it is written in Dutch, which was the lingua franca of Brussels and the local administration until the end of the 18th century. Today, the two official languages of the Brussels region are French and Dutch.

The consoles supporting the beams are adorned with the coats of arms of the seven ‘lineages’, i.e. the seven clans uniting the great patrician families who monopolised urban power until 1421.

From that date, the corporations, who revolted several times, finally achieved equal participation in the management of the city by designating their own representatives. Many of them (weavers, plumbers, tanners, furriers, butchers, etc.) are well represented by their coats of arms painted on the coffered ceiling.

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