Place Royale

The Place Royale (Koningsplein in Dutch) is a square in Brussels which can be accessed by Rue Royale, Rue de Namur, Rue de la Régence, Rue du Musée, and Rue Montagne de la Cour. Built between 1775 and 1782 as part of an urban project that included the Brussels Park, it is a rectangular and symmetrical neoclassical square, measuring 77 meters by 113 meters.

The Coudenberg Hill or Court Quarter, where the current Place Royale is located, was for nearly seven centuries the location of the castle, and then of the Coudenberg Ancient Palace, the seat of power of the Dukes of Brabant. It was one of the highest hills overlooking the Senne.

In 1731, a violent fire ravaged the palace, which remained in ruins for several decades, known as the "burnt court." Several redevelopment projects for this space were proposed: Jean-André Anneessens and A. Royet, among others, designed plans for the reconstruction of a palace, which never went beyond the sketch stage due to a lack of funds. The construction of a new palace seemed even less necessary since in the meantime, the court had moved to the Palais d'Orange Nassau.

In 1769, the idea of clearing and leveling the ruins of Place des Bailles and turning it into an esplanade for military parades emerged. A statue of Charles V, recovered from the same location, would have been erected there. The plan was about to come to fruition in 1772 when another project made it obsolete. In 1774, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the reign of Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine, it was decided to create a statue in the center of a planted space. The first version of the project, designed by Louis-Joseph Baudour and Claude Fisco, included the preservation of the chapel of the former Coudenberg Palace, which had been spared by the fire. Although this space, intended to be decorated with a statue of the governor, was initially called Place de Lorraine in his honor, the name Place Royale was ultimately chosen, following the predominant model in France, which seemed more appropriate for representing political power.

Architect Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré played a consultative role in the project's development. The first version of his plans shows that he conceived the idea of rebuilding the church of Saint-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in the axis of Montagne de la Cour, thus creating a magnificent perspective. He also imagined other openings that are still present today: those of Rue de Namur and Passage du Palais. This plan was modified around 1780 by the architect Joachim Zinner, who imagined linking the square with the new Palace of Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine and the Parc de Bruxelles (housing a statue of Empress Marie-Thérèse that was never realized). This new district, designed on a structure linking three strategic points, aimed to relieve congestion in this part of the city.

Later, porticos were designed by Barnabé Guimard for the openings to give the perimeter more coherence.

The statue of Governor Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine was created by Pierre-Antoine Verschaffelt. A pedestal statue was preferred to the formula of the equestrian statue - whose model is the statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome - because it represented less authority in the coercive sense. It is the statue of an enlightened prince, capable of making "the happiness of his people," and no longer a man of war. It should be noted that it is not strictly speaking a "royal" statue since Charles de Lorraine was only the governor-general, representing a sovereign who resided in Vienna.

The French revolutionaries overturned the statue during their entry into Brussels in January 1793. Replaced during the brief Austrian restoration, the statue was then again toppled by the French and this time melted down and transformed into coins. The French planted a tree of liberty in the place of the statue. This tree was itself cut down in 1814, during the fall of the Napoleonic Empire.

Remained empty for several decades, the center of the square was once again occupied by a monument in 1848: the statue of Godfrey of Bouillon, at a time when young Belgium was searching for patriotic symbols. This equestrian statue of Godfrey of Bouillon by Eugène Simonis was inaugurated on August 15, 1848 (on the pedestal, it says 24!) The hero is represented at the moment when he sets off for the first crusade: he waves the banner and cries out, "God wills it!" In 1897, two bronze bas-reliefs were fitted into the pedestal. One depicts the "assault on Jerusalem" led by Godfrey of Bouillon, who took the city on July 15, 1099. The other depicts the "Assizes of Jerusalem," a collection of laws and ordinances that were never promulgated by Godfrey!

Like the Place des Palais, the Place Royale is suitable for holding official ceremonies. The last Austrian sovereigns were inaugurated there as Dukes of Brabant: Joseph II on July 17, 1781, Leopold II on June 30, 1791 - both in absentia - and Francis II on April 23, 1794, who was the first sovereign to be actually present at the ceremony since Philip II. Cavalcades were organized there in honor of Napoleon I in 1810. It was also on the square that the inauguration of William I as sovereign of the Netherlands was celebrated on September 21, 1815. On July 21, 1831, King Leopold I took the oath as the first king of the Belgians before the members of Congress on a platform in front of the Church of St. James on the Coudenberg. Other celebrations were subsequently held there, including one of the most brilliant on the occasion of the 25 years of the reign of Leopold I in 1856, when triumphal arches were erected at the entrance to Rue de la Régence and Rue Royale.