Brussels' city walls

Brussels' city walls

Edited by the Brussels-Capital Region, these brochures invite you to discover the route and the remains of the first and the second city walls of Brussels.

Brussels first city wall was constructed during the 13th century, including the different main centres of the city: the ducal palace on Coudenberg hill, the merchant port on the River Senne and the collegiate church of Saint-Michael-and-Gudule. It structured the urban form of the town centre in a very decisive way. As it never was systematically dismantled, its structure was slowly integrated in the urban structure. Many remains of this rampart still survive today amongst others in the shape of a square or the name of a street.
This walk will take you into the footsteps of connoisseurs, no detail will escape your notice and you will discover the city from its most ancient path round the battlements…

omwalling2.pngExcept for the Porte de Hal, the medieval city wall build during the 14th century has completely disappeared but left a still tangible print on the modern city. Today’s form of the petite ceinture (little belt) boulevards is directly inherited by the layout of Brussels’ second city wall build between 1360 and 1400. When it was dismantled at the end of the 18th century and begin of the 19th, large boulevards were created for walks, by still following the wall’s route.
Each of these successive historical layers in one same place left traces on which this walk will take you…

Brochures to download here.

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