L’Étoile

Brussels


The square’s smallest building, surmounted by a star, is where city hero Everard ’t Serclaes died in 1388. A fairly contemporary ‘tradition’ claims you’ll garner good luck by rubbing a 1902 brass statue of Everard’s reclining corpse. The statue adorns the house’s arcaded north wall in Rue Charles Buls, the road separating the house from the Hôtel de Ville. Also notice the lovely 1899 gilded art nouveau plaque dedicated to the city by its appreciative artists.

Transportation

  • metro: Gare Centrale

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Brussels attractions

1. Le Cygne

The lovely butchers' guildhall, featuring a carved swan above the door, hosted Karl Marx in 1847. Ironically, it’s now home to the Grand Place's finest…

2. L’Arbre d’Or

Notice the hop plants climbing columns here! At the former brewers' guildhall, which is still the Belgian brewers’ headquarters, two atmospheric but small…

3. Musée de la Brasserie

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Brussels’ brewery museum is authentic in the sense that it occupies the basement of the brewers’ guildhall and has some 18th-century brewing equipment…

4. Brewery Museum

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Entry includes a beer supped amid barrels and delightfully antiquated wooden brewers’ tools: with the BrusselsCard it’s a great opportunity for a free…

5. Statue of Everard 't Serclaes

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A 1902 statue of city hero Everard ’t Serclaes depicts his reclining corpse. A fairly contemporary ‘tradition’ claims that rubbing the statue will bring…

6. Grand Place

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Brussels’ magnificent Grand Place is one of the world’s most unforgettable urban ensembles. Oddly hidden, the enclosed cobblestone square is only revealed…

7. Dukes of Brabant Mansion

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Six 1698 houses sit behind this single palatial facade, reworked in 1882. Had the imperial governor had his way after 1695, the whole square would have…

8. Hôtel de Ville

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Laboriously built between 1444 and 1480, the splendid, slightly asymmetrical Hôtel de Ville was almost the only building on the Grand Place to escape the…

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