Works of Grant Allen

by Grant Allen

  There are three other churches, beside the Cathedral, in the neighbourhood of the Place Royale, which you may go to see, if you have plenty of time left, but which you need not otherwise trouble about. The three can be easily combined in a single short round.

  Go down the Montagne du Parc, and take the first turning to the L., Rue des Douze Apôtres, which will bring you direct to the little Chapelle de l’Expiation, erected in 1436, on the site of the synagogue where the Stolen Hosts were profaned, and in expiation of the supposed crime. The exterior of the building has been modernized, and indeed the whole is of little interest, save in connection with the Cathedral and the Stolen Hosts; but a glance inside is not undesirable. The interior, flamboyant Gothic, is thoroughly well decorated throughout, in modern polychrome, with scenes from the Gospel History. The Apse has good modern stained-glass windows, and frescoes of angels holding the instruments of the Passion. It is separated from the Nave by a high Rood-Loft, without a screen. Modern taste has here almost entirely ignored the painful and malicious story of the Stolen Wafers.

  Now, continue down the Rue des Sols as far as the Rue de l’Impératrice (where a slight détour to the R. takes you in front of the Université Libre, a large and somewhat imposing, but uninteresting building). Continue rather to the L. down the Rue de l’Impératrice, crossing the Montagne de la Cour, into the Rue de l’Empereur and the Rue d’Or, till you arrive at the Place de la Chapelle, containing the church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle — after the Cathedral, the finest mediæval church of Brussels. The exterior has lately (alas!) been quite too much restored. It shows a fine Nave and Aisles of the 15th century, and a much lower and very beautiful Choir of the 13th century, with some Romanesque details of an earlier building (10th century?) Walk once round the church, to observe the exterior architecture. The West Front is massive rather than beautiful. The sculpture over the door (the Trinity with angels, and Our Lady) is modern. Over the southern portal is a modern relief, in a Romanesque tympanum, representing the Coronation of Our Lady by God the Father and the Son. The Romanesque and transitional work of the beautiful low Choir and Apse has unfortunately been over-restored.

  The interior, with its fine Nave and Aisles, is impressive, especially as you look from the centre down towards the West end. The round pillars of the Nave are handsome, and have the usual figures of the Twelve Apostles. The pulpit is one of the familiar 17th century monstrosities, with palms, and Elijah in the Wilderness. The interior of the pretty little Apse has been so completely modernized as to leave it little interest. There are a few good pictures of the School of Rubens (De Crayer, Van Thulden, etc.).

  On emerging from the church, follow the tramway line up the hill to the market-place of the Grand Sablon. Good views in every direction as you enter the Place. The square is animated on Fridays and Sundays, when markets are held here. Pass through the market-place, which contains an absurd 18th century monument, erected by a Marquis of Ailesbury of the period, in gratitude for the hospitality he had received from the citizens of Brussels, and continue on to the Rue de la Régence, passing on your R. the beautiful Apse of the church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, now unhappily in course of restoration. The entrance is in the Rue de la Régence, and the church is not oriented.

  Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, or Notre-Dame du Sablon, was founded in 1304 by the Guild of Crossbowmen; but the existing late-Gothic building is almost entirely of the 15th and 16th centuries. It has been over-restored in parts, and the beautiful crumbling exterior of the Apse is now threatened with disfigurement.

  The interior is pleasing. Over the Main Entrance, within, is a curious ex voto of a ship, in commemoration of the arrival of a sacred image, said to have floated miraculously by sea.

  The first chapel to your L. as you enter has a *tomb of Count Flaminio Gamier, secretary to the Duke of Parma, partly restored, but with fine original alabaster reliefs of the early Renaissance, representing the History of the Virgin. The series begins below: (1) Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate; (2) The Birth of the Virgin; (3) The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple. Then, above: (4) Annunciation; note the relative positions of the angel and Our Lady, the lily, the prie-dieu, and the loggia in the background; (5) the Visitation, with the usual arch; and (6) the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

  The Apse has restored figures of saints (named) in imitation of those which were discovered in ruined fresco during the restoration. They are a good typical collection of the saints most venerated in the Low Countries in the Middle Ages.

  The Nave has the usual figures of Apostles, named, and a small open Triforium just below the Clerestory. The Pulpit has on its face a medallion of Our Lady; R. and L., Moses and St. Augustine. Below, the four beasts of the Evangelists.

  You need not trouble about any other special building in Brussels; but you may occupy yourself pleasantly with many walks through all parts of the city.

  You are now in a position to understand the growth and spread of Brussels. From the very beginning, the merchant town occupied the valley, while the capital of the Counts, Dukes, or Sovereigns spread over the hill, in the neighbourhood of what are still significantly called the Montagne de la Cour and the Place Royale. To this day the two contrasted parts of the city are broadly distinct. The valley speaks Flemish; the mountain, French. In the valley stand all the municipal and mercantile buildings — the Hôtel-de-Ville, the Bourse, the Post-Office, the markets, and the principal places of wholesale business. On the hill stand the Royal Palace, the Government Offices, the Legislative Body, the Ministries, the Palais de Justice, and the whole of the National Museums and collections. From this point of view again, in our own day, the valley is municipal, and the hill national. The contrasted aspects of the Inner Boulevards and the Rue de la Régence well mark the difference. In the valley, you will find, once more, the hotels of commerce and of the passing traveller; on the hill, those frequented by ambassadors and the wealthier class of foreign tourists. Near the Place Royale were situated the houses of the old Brabant nobility, the Egmonts and the Cuylenburgs; as at the present day are situated those of the Arenbergs and the De Chimays.

  Historically, the spread of the town from its centre began towards the Castle of the Counts of Louvain and Dukes of Brabant, in the Ancienne Cour, now occupied by the Royal Library and the Modern Picture Gallery, as well as towards the ecclesiastical quarter of the Cathedral and the Chancellerie. The antiquity of this portion of the Upper Town is well marked by the continued existence of the mediæval churches of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, and the Chapelle de l’Expiation. Under the Burgundian princes, Brussels ranked second to Ghent and Bruges; but after the Hapsburgs obtained possession of the Low Countries, it was made the principal residence of the sovereigns in their western domains. Charles V. inhabited it as one of his chief capitals. Under Philip II. of Spain, it became the official residence of the Stadtholder of the Netherlands; and Margaret of Parma, who bore that office, held her court in the old Palace. From that time forth Brussels was recognised as the common capital of the southern Low Countries. The Austrian Stadtholders habitually lived here; and when, after the Napoleonic upheaval, Belgium and Holland were united into a single kingdom, Brussels was made the alternative capital with Amsterdam. By the time that Belgium asserted her independence in 1830, Brussels had thus obtained the prescriptive right to become the seat of government of the new nation.

  The old Palace had been burnt down in 1731, and the outer wings of the existing Palace were built by the Austrians shortly after. It was they, too, who laid out the Rue Royale and Place Royale, with the Park and its surroundings, as we still see them at the present day. To the Austrian rulers are also due the Parliamentary Buildings: but the Palais des Académies was built under Dutch rule in 1829. Since 1830 the town has been greatly beautified and improved. The Inner Boulevards have been opened through the labyrinth of streets in the old centre: the Palais de Justice has been built, the Quartier Léopold has grown up, and great edif
ices have been erected at Schaerbeck and elsewhere on the outskirts.

  At the present day, of Brussels within the Boulevards, the Hill District is governmental and fashionable; the Central District, municipal and commercial: the Western District contains the markets, basins, canals, and wholesale business side of the city. Without the Boulevards, Fashion has spread eastward towards the Bois de la Cambre and the Parc Léopold. The poorer districts run southward and westward. But every part of the city is amply provided with wide thoroughfares and open breathing-spaces. In this respect, Brussels is one of the best-arranged cities in Europe.

  F. SURROUNDINGS

  The only excursion of interest in the immediate neighbourhood of Brussels is that to Laeken (recommended), which may be taken by tram from the Inner Boulevards, the Gare du Nord, the Gare du Midi, Bourse, etc. Cars run every 10 minutes. The modern Church of St. Mary at Laeken is a handsome unfinished building. A little to the R. lie the Park and the Royal Château, inaccessible and unimportant. The road behind the church ascends the Montagne du Tonnerre, a little hill with a Monument to Léopold I., not unlike the Albert Memorial in London. A good *view of Brussels is obtained from the summit of the monument, ascended by a winding staircase. (No fee.) The easiest way to make this excursion is by carriage in the afternoon.

  Unless you are a military man or a student of tactics, I do not advise you to undertake the dull and wearisome excursion to Waterloo. The battle-field is hot and shade-less in summer, cold and draughty in spring and autumn. The points of interest, such as they are, lie at considerable distances. Waterloo is country, and ugly country — no more. The general traveller who desires to be conducted round the various strategic landmarks of the field will find his wants amply catered for by Baedeker. But I advise him to forego that foregone disappointment.

  The time saved by not visiting Waterloo may, however, be well devoted to a morning excursion to

  Louvain.

  [This ancient and important town, which should be visited both on account of its magnificent Hôtel-de-Ville, and in order to make a better acquaintance with Dierick Bouts, the town painter, can be conveniently reached by train from the Gare du Nord. The best trains take little more than half an hour to do the journey. A single morning is sufficient for the excursion, especially if you start early. Wednesday is the most convenient day, as a quick train then returns about 1.30. (Consult Bradshaw.) Lunch can be obtained (good) in the large white building on the left-hand side of the Hôtel-de-Ville. (It is a private club, but contains a public restaurant, on the R., within, to which, push through boldly.) If you have Conway, take him with you on this excursion, to compare the doubtful Roger van der Weyden at St. Pierre with the woodcut he gives of its supposed original at Madrid. Read before you start (or on the way) his admirable accounts of Roger van der Weyden and Dierick Bouts.

  Louvain is, in a certain sense, the mother city of Brussels. Standing on its own little navigable river, the Dyle, it was, till the end of the 14th century, the capital of the Counts and of the Duchy of Brabant. It had a large population of weavers, engaged in the cloth trade. Here, as elsewhere, the weavers formed the chief bulwark of freedom in the population. In 1378, however, after a popular rising, Duke Wenseslaus besieged and conquered the city; and the tyrannical sway of the nobles, whom he re-introduced, aided by the rise of Ghent or, later, of Antwerp, drove away trade from the city. Many of the weavers emigrated to Holland and England, where they helped to establish the woollen industry.

  During the early Middle Ages, Louvain was also celebrated for its University, founded in 1426, and suppressed by the French in 1797. It was re-established by the Dutch in 1817, but abandoned by the Belgian Government in 1834, and then started afresh in the next year as a free private Roman Catholic University. Charles V. was educated here.

  The modern town has shrunk far away within its ancient ramparts, whose site is now for the most part occupied by empty Boulevards. It is still the stronghold of Roman Catholic theology in Belgium.]

  As you emerge from the station, you come upon a small Place, adorned with a statue (by Geefs) of Sylvain van de Weyer, a revolutionary of 1830, and long Belgian Minister in England. Take the long straight street up which the statue looks. This leads direct to the Grand’ Place, the centre of the town, whence the chief streets radiate in every direction, the ground-plan recalling that of a Roman city.

  The principal building in the Grand’ Place is the Hôtel-de-Ville, standing out with three sides visible from the Place, and probably the finest civic building in Belgium. It is of very florid late-Gothic architecture, between 1448 and 1463. Begin first with the left façade, exhibiting three main storeys, with handsome Gothic windows. Above come a gallery and then a gable-end, flanked by octagonal turrets, and bearing a similar turret on its summit. In the centre of the gable is a little projecting balcony of the kind so common on Belgian civic buildings. The architecture of the niches and turrets is of very fine florid Gothic, in better taste than that at Ghent of nearly the same period. The statues which fill the niches are modern. Those of the first storey represent personages of importance in the local history of the city: those of the second, the various mediæval guilds or trades: those of the third, the Counts of Louvain and Dukes of Brabant of all ages. The bosses or corbels which support the statues are carved with scriptural scenes in high relief. I give the subjects of a few (beginning L.): the reader must decipher the remainder for himself. The Court of Heaven: The Fall of the Angels into the visible Jaws of Hell: Adam and Eve in the Garden: The Expulsion from Paradise: The Death of Abel, with quaint rabbits escaping: The Drunkenness of Noah: Abraham and Lot: etc.

  The main façade has an entrance staircase, and two portals in the centre, above which are figures of St. Peter, L., and Our Lady and Child, R., the former in compliment to the patron of the church opposite. This façade has three storeys, decorated with Gothic windows, and capped by a gallery parapet, above which rises the high-pitched roof, broken by several quaint small windows. At either end are the turrets of the gable, with steps to ascend them. The rows of statues represent as before (in 4 tiers) persons of local distinction, mediæval guilds, and the Princes who have ruled Brabant and Louvain. Here again the sculptures beneath the bosses should be closely inspected. Among the most conspicuous are the Golden Calf, the Institution of Sacrifices in the Tabernacle, Balaam’s Ass, Susannah and the Elders, etc.

  The gable-end to the R., ill seen from the narrow street, resembles in its features the one opposite it, but this façade, which was even finer than the others, is at present in course of wholesale restoration.

  The best general view is obtained from the door of St. Pierre, or near either corner of the Place, diagonally opposite.

  Do not trouble about the interior.

  Opposite the Hôtel-de-Ville stands the Church of St. Pierre, originally erected in 1040, but entirely rebuilt in 1430, to which date the whole existing edifice belongs. It is a handsome late-Gothic building, with a fine West Front, never completed, and a truncated tower. The central West Window is imposing, but the ruined portal has a depressing effect. Walk round the church once outside to observe its exterior architecture, obscured towards the Grand’ Place by the usual agglomeration of small Renaissance houses. The main entrance is in the South Transept; above it stands a poor modern statue of the patron, St. Peter. The High Choir, with its flying buttresses, would form a fine element if the houses were cleared away, so as to afford a view of the chapels below.

  Now view the interior. Go at once into the body of the church. The general effect is handsome, but the walls are cold and white-washed. The church has a fine Nave, with single Aisles, short Transepts, high Choir, and Ambulatory. The Nave, Transepts, and Choir, have all an exactly similar clerestory, with an unusual Triforium of open latticework, and tracery in the same style in the spandrils of the arches.

  Go down to the W. end of the Nave. The entrance doors at this end have good but not beautiful carved woodwork of the Renaissance.

  Left Ai
sle. First chapel. Late Gothic copper font, with large crane, to support a heavy iron cover, now removed. The other chapels on this side contain nothing of interest.

  Right Aisle. First chapel (of San Carlo Borromeo), has an altar-piece, copied from one by De Crayer, carried off by the French and now at Nancy. It represents San Carlo ministering to the plague-stricken at Milan. Also, a triptych, by Van de Baeren, 1594. Centre, St. Dorothea beheaded. Her head praising God. L., Her trial before the governor, Fabricius. R., Her torture in enduring the sight of her sister’s martyrdom. Statue of San Carlo by Geefs.

  Second chapel, of the Armourers, has a railing with arms and cannon, and contains an old blackened crucifix, much venerated because it is said to have caught a thief who had entered the church to steal the treasures.

  The pulpit is a carved wooden monstrosity of the 18th century, representing, behind, the Repentance of Peter, with the cock crowing, a maladroit subject for a church dedicated to the saint. In front, the Conversion of St. Paul, with his horse overthrown. Above are two palm trees.

  The Choir is separated from the Transepts and Nave by a very handsome and elaborate *Rood-Loft, in the finest flamboyant late-Gothic style (1450), one of the best still remaining examples in Europe. It supports a Crucifixion, with St. John and Our Lady. Its arcade of three handsome arches is surmounted by a sculptured balustrade, containing figures of saints (the Saviour, Our Lady and Child, the Twelve Apostles with the instruments of their martyrdom, the Doctors of the Church, and a few others). Examine carefully.

  Now, pass behind the Choir, into the Ambulatory, beginning on the N., or left side. The first recess has a fine mediæval tomb of Mathilde de Flandre. On your R., in the Choir, a little further on, is a beautiful late-Gothic tabernacle or canopy of 1450, gilded, and containing scenes from the Passion. Just behind the High Altar is a curious little 15th century relief: Centre, the Crucifixion with St. John and Our Lady: R., The Resurrection, with sleeping Roman soldiers: L., The donor, with his patron St. John the Baptist.