Place Royale
بروكسل
Place Royale is an 18th-century square at the top of the Coudenberg hill, in Brussels. It stands where the dukes' palace once rose.
The lost palace
For centuries the palace of the rulers of the land stood on this hill. It was big and famous throughout Europe, with an enormous hall for celebrations. In 1731 a fire destroyed almost all of it. The ruins were left abandoned for more than thirty years.
A square drawn with a ruler
In the 1770s it was decided to build a new square, modelled on the French royal squares. Two French architects designed it. In the centre they placed the statue of a horseman, with all-white buildings around it. All the buildings had to follow strict rules: same roofs, same materials, same colours. The square still keeps that order today. On one side of the square stands a church dedicated to Saint James. It has a portico, a porch with columns.
The city under the square
To build the square, the ground was levelled. The cellars of the old palace, on the side of the hill, were left as foundations. In the 1980s archaeologists found them again. Today they form an underground archaeological site, with halls, corridors and a stretch of an old street.
