Brussels City Museum

Brussels' Town Hall was erected in stages, between 1401 and 1455, on the south side of the Grand-Place/Grote Markt, transforming the square into the seat of municipal power.[3] To counter this, from 1504 to 1536, the Duke of Brabant ordered the construction of a large Flamboyant edifice across from the city hall to house his administrative services.[8] It was erected on the site of the first cloth and bread markets, which were no longer in use.[9]

The building was first called the Duke's House (Middle Dutch: 's Hertogenhuys), but when Charles V, Duke of Brabant since 1506, was crowned King of Spain in 1516, it became known as the King's House (Middle Dutch: 's Conincxhuys). It is currently known as the Maison du Roi ("King's House") in French, although no king has ever lived there, though in Dutch it continues to be called the Broodhuis ("Bread House"), after the market whose place it took.[9] During Charles' reign, the building was completely redone by his court architect Antoon II Keldermans in a late Gothic style very similar to the contemporary design, although without towers or galleries. The projects were presented in 1514 and the construction took place between 1515 and 1536.[10]

In 1568, two statesmen, Lamoral, Count of Egmont and Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn, who had spoken out against the policies of King Philip II in the Spanish Netherlands, were beheaded in front of the King's House.[11][12][13] This triggered the beginning of the armed revolt against Spanish rule, of which William of Orange took the lead.

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  The King's House in Brussels, designed by Antoon II Keldermans in 1514
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  Execution of the Counts of Egmont and Horn in front of the King's House in 1568
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  Carousel in front of the King's House in 1565 to mark the wedding of the Duke of Parma and Maria of Portugal

The King's House suffered extensive damage in 1695 from the bombardment of Brussels by a French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy.[8] The building was then roughly restored by the architect Jean Cosyn in 1697.[14] A second more thorough restoration followed in 1767 when it received a neoclassical portal and a large roof pierced with three oeil-de-boeuf windows. The statues of saints accompanying the Virgin Mary were replaced by those of an imperial eagle and a heraldic lion. This also led to the disappearance of the fountain from the portal.[2]

In the late 18th century, the building served as a Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis ("House of the People") during the occupation of Brussels by French Revolutionaries.[14] Having become national property, it was ceded to the City of Brussels, which sold it in 1811 to the Marquis Paul Arconati-Visconti. The latter did not keep it long; he resold it in 1817. The new owner rented it for the most diverse uses: from a court, to a temporary prison, a storage space for the British cavalry after the Battle of Waterloo, a rehearsal room of the School of Dance of the Theatre of La Monnaie, and a library.

In 1864, a new fountain made by the sculptor Charles-Auguste Fraikin was installed, topped with statues of the Counts of Egmont and Horn, on the site of their execution.[15]

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  The Grand-Place in flames during the bombardment of Brussels in 1695. The King's House is on the right.
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  The King's House burning during the bombardment
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  The surroundings of the King's House after the bombardment
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  The building following the neoclassical restoration

By the mid-19th century, the state of the building had deteriorated and a comprehensive renovation was sorely needed. Under the impulse of the city's then-mayor, Charles Buls, it was reconstructed once again between 1874 and 1896, in its current neo-Gothic form, by the architect Victor Jamaer, in the style of his mentor Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.[5] On that occasion, Jamaer built two galleries and a central tower. He also adorned the facade with statues and other decorations. At the rear, he added a new, much more sober wing in Flemish neo-Renaissance style. The new King's House was officially inaugurated in 1896.

During the works, the fountain-sculpture of the Counts of Egmont and Horn was moved to the Square du Petit Sablon/Kleine Zavelsquare, where it now has its back to the Egmont Palace.[15] Despite the fountain's move, the memory of the martyrs is still present at the site of their execution through commemorative plaques in French and Dutch, present since 1911 on either side of the entrance to the building, and replacing a previous plaque written only in French and sealed in the sidewalk.

The current building, whose interior was renovated in 1985, has housed the Brussels City Museum since 1887.[3][4] From 1928, the entire building was assigned to the museum's collections. After transformations, it reopened its doors in 1935 on the occasion of the Brussels International Exposition. On 9 March 1936, it was designated a historic monument, at the same time as the Town Hall.[16] It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998 as part of the registration of the Grand-Place.[6]

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  The building before the neo-Gothic reconstruction campaign
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  The building in the late 19th century, after reconstruction
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  The building as it appears today

• Culot, Maurice; Hennaut, Eric; Demanet, Marie; Mierop, Caroline (1992). Le bombardement de Bruxelles par Louis XIV et la reconstruction qui s'ensuivit, 1695–1700 (in French). Brussels: AAM éditions. ISBN 978-2-87143-079-7.
• De Vries, André (2003). Brussels: A Cultural and Literary History. Oxford: Signal Books. ISBN 978-1-902669-46-5.
• Des Marez, Guillaume (1918). Guide illustré de Bruxelles (in French). Vol. 1. Brussels: Touring Club Royal de Belgique.
• Hennaut, Eric (2000). La Grand-Place de Bruxelles. Bruxelles, ville d'Art et d'Histoire (in French). Vol. 3. Brussels: Éditions de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale.
• Heymans, Vincent (2011). Les maisons de la Grand-Place de Bruxelles (in French). Brussels: CFC Éditions. ISBN 978-2-930018-89-8.
• State, Paul F. (2004). Historical dictionary of Brussels. Historical dictionaries of cities of the world. Vol. 14. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5075-0.
• Le Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique: Bruxelles (PDF) (in French). Vol. 1B: Pentagone E-M. Liège: Pierre Mardaga. 1993.