Place de Brouckère

The Place de Brouckère was laid out following the covering of the river Senne (1867–1871), as part of the major urban works by the architect Léon Suys under the tenure of the then-mayor of the City of Brussels, Jules Anspach.[2][3] It took the place of the former Temple of the Augustinians.[4] This church, built at the beginning of the 17th century in the Brabantine Baroque style, was the only remaining part of a convent destroyed in 1796 by French revolutionaries. The work to cover the river, which nearly surrounded the church, preserved the integrity of the building at great trouble and expense, but it was finally demolished in 1893, its style no longer popular with the people and its presence unsuitable for the area. Its facade's masonry, however, was preserved, being disassembled and reconstructed as the facade of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ixelles.[5]

The Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein with the Anspach Fountain in the late 19th century

In the centre of the square, left empty by the destruction of the church, a granite fountain-obelisk dedicated to the memory of Jules Anspach, by the architect Charles-Émile Janlet, was erected.[6] Inaugurated in 1897, the Anspach Fountain was surmounted by a bronze effigy of Saint Michael, the patron saint of the City of Brussels, slaying a dragon or demon.[7][8] This monument stood exactly in the axis of the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan, like a regulator of traffic at the birth of the fork between the Boulevard Émile Jacqmain/Émile Jacqmainlaan and the Boulevard Adolphe Max/Adolphe Maxlaan. Inseparable from the monumental perspective of the boulevards—and yet moved following the works of the metro—it is, through its dedication and former location, a tribute to Anspach.[6]

For its role as a prestigious central square, its triangular configuration, and the presence of cinemas and theatres all around it, including the former Continental and Métropole café-hotels, La Scala theatre and Eldorado cinema (today's UGC De Brouckère), the Place de Brouckère could have been compared to a mini-Broadway in Brussels from the 1930s to 1960s, when large illuminated advertisements lit the square from the rooftops. Its appearance back then earned it international fame, and it was referenced in many works of music, among them Django Reinhardt's jazz song Place De Brouckère (1942). On 4 September 1944, the square was the scene of great jubilation during the liberation of Brussels by the British Guards Armoured Division. In the 1950s, it hosted one of the tourist pavilions of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair (Expo '58), built especially for the occasion.[9]

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  The Place de Brouckère after the demolition of the Temple of the Augustinians. In the foreground, the Anspach Fountain is under construction.
• 
  The square on a pre-1930 postcard. Note the lower roof of the Hotel Continental.
• 
  British tanks arrive in Brussels on 4 September 1944, ending the German occupation

The south-eastern sides of the Place de Brouckère were razed in 1967–1971, at the same time as the two blocks delimited by the Place de la Monnaie/Muntplein, the Rue de l'Évêque/Bisschopsstraat, the Rue de Laeken/Lakensestraat, the Rue des Augustins/Augustijnenstraat and the Rue du Fossé aux Loups/Wolvengracht, to make room for the modernist Monnaie Center by the architects Jacques Cuisinier, Jean Gilson, André and Jean Polak and Robert Schuiten, as well as the Philips Tower by Structures Architectural Bureau. On that occasion, car traffic was channelled in the square's centre between wide pavement-terraces fitted out in the "above-ground" style of the time with the addition of numerous benches, trees and planters.[10]

The Anspach Fountain was removed in 1973 to make way for access to De Brouckère metro station.[7] The authorities had promised to put it back in place after the works, but it was eventually reinstalled in May 1981 in a basin that occupies the space between the Quai aux Briques/Baksteenkaai and the Quai au Bois à Brûler/Brandhoutkaai, in the Sainte-Catherine/Sint Katelijne neighbourhood, some 700 metres (2,300 ft) from the Place de Brouckère.[11]

If today almost all the signs have disappeared from the Place de Brouckère (with the exception of the Coca-Cola sign on the roof of the Hotel Continental), various attempts at revitalising the square are underway to bring it back to its heyday. In 2014, the City of Brussels' then-mayor, Yvan Mayeur, declared his wish to turn the square into "A Times Square in the centre of Brussels".[12] Since 29 June 2015, the square has been pedestrianised, as part of a large pedestrian zone in central Brussels (Le Piétonnier). On that occasion, it was partially restored to its original appearance and was repaved.[13]

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  The square in 1974 during the construction of De Brouckère metro station
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  The square in 2007, before its pedestrianisation and renovation
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  The square as it appears today

• The Belgian-born French musician Django Reinhardt composed and performed a jazz song entitled Place De Brouckère (1942).
• The Place de Brouckère is referenced amid an evocation of the Belle Époque by the Belgian singer Jacques Brel in the song Bruxelles (1962).
• The square is also mentioned in a song entitled Bruxelles by the Dutch singer Dick Annegarn (1974).

• Demey, Thierry (1990). Bruxelles, chronique d'une capitale en chantier (in French). Vol. I: Du voûtement de la Senne à la jonction Nord-Midi. Brussels: Paul Legrain/CFC. OCLC 44643865.
• Eggericx, Laure (1997). Les Boulevards du Centre. Bruxelles, ville d'Art et d'Histoire (in French). Vol. 20. Brussels: Centre d'information, de Documentation et d'Etude du Patrimoine.
• Loze, Pierre; Vautier, Dominique; Vestre, Marina (1990). Guide de Bruxelles XIXème et Art Nouveau (in French). Brussels: Eiffel Editions - CFC Éditions.
• Le Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique: Bruxelles (PDF) (in French). Vol. 1A: Pentagone A-D. Liège: Pierre Mardaga. 1989.