In my recent trip to Europe, I had an opportunity to spend a day in Brussels. Brussels is not just the capital of Belgium, but also the administrative centre of many international organizations, including the European Union.

For anyone coming here for the first time, the Grand Place would be an obvious destination. The Grand Place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most remarkable landmark in Brussels. In 1695, the place was razed to grounds by the French troops, which had launched a massive bombardment, setting the city centre on fire. The square was rebuilt in the following four years by the city’s guilds and houses the elegant guildhalls, besides the city’s Town Hall and the Breadhouse or the Maison du Roi.

Listing it under its World Heritage Site, UNESCO states: La Grand-Place in Brussels is a remarkably homogeneous body of public and private buildings, dating mainly from the late 17th century. The architecture provides a vivid illustration of the level of social and cultural life of the period in this important political and commercial centre.

The Grand Place, known for its decorative and aesthetic opulence, presents a wonderful combination of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles. Remarkably, it has also been voted the most beautiful square in Europe in a survey conducted by a Dutch website leaving behind Moscow’s Red Square and the Place Stanislas in Nancy, France to second and third places respectively.

On way to the Grand Place lies the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. This has its origin in the 9th century, when a chapel dedicated to the saint was built on the Treurenberg hill. In the 11th century it was replaced by a Romanesque church. In 1047. the relics of the martyr St. Gudula were transported here. The patron saints of the church are also the patron saints of the city of Brussels.

Not far from the Grand Place is the world famous Manneken Pis, a landmark small bronze sculpture in Brussels, depicting little boy urinating into a fountain’s basin. Although the original statue depicted a naked boy, the statue is dressed in costume several times each week. His wardrobe consists of several hundred different costumes, many of which represent the national dress of nations whose dignitaries come to Brussels as tourists.