Instant Cities: Brussels

Brussels › Places and landmarks

Town Hall

Hôtel de Ville

The Gothic town hall with its 96-metre tower, topped by Saint Michael slaying the dragon.

See it in 3D Watch the tour

Photo: iMahesh, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The town hall was built in the 15th century, its slender tower finished in 1455 by Jan van Ruysbroeck. On the very top, some 96 metres up, a gilded Saint Michael, patron of the city, slays the devil in the shape of a dragon.

Look closely and you will see the tower does not stand quite in the middle of the front, and the two wings do not match. Visit it in 3D ›

More in Brussels

Grand-PlaceGuild houses and a Gothic town hall round one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. King’s HouseThe neo-Gothic house facing the town hall, home of the city museum and Manneken Pis’ wardrobe. Manneken PisA bronze boy barely half a metre tall, with a wardrobe of more than a thousand costumes. Galeries Royales Saint-HubertOne of the first covered shopping arcades in Europe, opened in 1847 under a glass roof. BourseThe old stock exchange of 1873, on a boulevard that has been free of cars since 2015. Cathedral of St Michael and St GudulaBrussels’ Gothic cathedral on the slope towards the upper town, where royal weddings are held. Mont des ArtsThe garden steps between the lower and the upper town, with a view over the city. SablonThe square of antique dealers and chocolatiers, below the Gothic church of Notre-Dame du Sablon. FriesThick fries fried twice in beef fat, served in a paper cone with mayonnaise. ChocolateThe praline was invented in Brussels, in the Galeries Saint-Hubert, in 1912. Comic-strip wallsTintin, the Smurfs and Lucky Luke painted on the gable walls of the old town.