Cities / Brussels
Belgium
Brussels: A square rebuilt in four years, a revolution born at the opera, a king and a colony.
Brussels is layered and mostly hidden. A historian walks the Grand Place as it was rebuilt after the French bombardment of 1695, the opera where the 1830 revolution started during a performance, Horta’s Art Nouveau streets, Leopold II’s monuments and what paid for them, and the European quarter.
The timeline the walk follows
Louis XIV’s guns destroy the Grand Place; the guilds rebuild it in four years.
A riot after an opera at La Monnaie; Belgium is born.
Leopold II’s private colony and the money behind the boulevards.
Art Nouveau begins in the Hôtel Tassel.
The Expo, the Atomium and the institutions.
Themes
Choose one, or name your own.
Two hours covers one theme well. Three hours links two.
- Grand Place and the 1695 bombardment
- 1830: the revolution that began at the opera
- Leopold II and the Congo
- Horta and Art Nouveau
- The European quarter
- Brussels in two world wars
Private walk
Your group only, your questions, your pace.
Group walk
Schools, companies, cruise and coach groups. Larger groups split.
Your theme
A period, a person, a family story. We find the historian who knows it.
Led by
A historian from Brussels, from LocalBini’s vetted network
Meeting point
Central, confirmed in your booking email
Not included
Entry tickets to monuments and museums
Questions
About Brussels.
Art Nouveau: are the houses open?
Most are private. Horta’s own house is a museum with a ticket; the walk covers the façades in Ixelles and Saint-Gilles.
Is the walk in French, Dutch or English?
All three; say which.
Cancellation?
Free cancellation up to 7 days before the walk. Within 7 days the walk is non refundable, since the historian has reserved the time. We reschedule for severe weather at no cost.
Walk Brussels with a historian.
Date, time, length and theme. We reply within a day and confirm your historian within two to three.