3. BRUXELLES. – GRANDE PLACE ET MAISONS DES CORPORATIONS.

I now believe that Septimus and Clara Miller were in Brussels in late March 1907. They bought a few cards of the buildings in the Grand-Place or Grote Markt. This card shows the western side of the square in between two streets: 'la rue de la Tête d'or' and 'la rue au Beurre'. You can clearly see 'la rue au Beurre' to the right of the card.

All of the buildings in this square have had a World Heritage Listing since 1998.

On this card you have five examples of the 39 Guildhalls that surround the square – les “MAISONS DES CORPORATIONS”. The guilds of Brussels had premises on or near the square in the 14th century.

But what you see today is “a remarkably homogeneous body of public and private buildings, dating mainly from the late 17th century. The architecture provides a vivid illustration of the level of social and cultural life of the period in this important political and commercial centre.” (UNESCO)

Homogeneous it is because of a French attack on the city by French forces (the ‘sans-culottes’) under le maréchal de Villeroy in August 1695. Most (but not all) of the square was flattened.

Four years later it looked like this!

It’s a testament to the power of commerce.

In this photo you see six buildings each with a particular name in French …… and Dutch.

From left to right they are:

Le Renard - De Vos - The Mercers’ Guild
Le Cornet - De Hoorn - The Boatmen’s Guild
La Louve - De Wolf - The Archers’ Guild
Le Sac - Den Sack - The Cabinetmakers’ Guild
La Brouette - Den Cruywagen - The Grocers (originally sellers of lard, butter and tallow - les Graissiers or Vettewariers )
Le Roy d'Espagne - Den Coninck van Spaignien ( or even earlier Backershuys or la Maison des Boulangers) - The Bakers’ Guild.

When this photo was taken for Thomas van den Heuvel around 1900 it looked pretty busy too!

"It is located on former marshland on the right bank of the River Senne, to the east of the castellum, a defensive outwork of the castle built around 977 by Charles of France, Duke of Lower Lotharingia. The marsh was drained in the 12th century. The present rectangular outline of the Grand'Place has developed over the centuries as a result of successive enlargements and other modifications, and did not take up its definitive form until after 1695." (UNESCO)