FROM THE DUKES OF BRABANT TO THE HABSBURGS; BRUSSELS A DUCAL, IMPERIAL AND ROYAL CITY ( Duration: 3 hours - Maximum 20 persons per guide – Walking tour including the visit to the Maison du Roi and the archaeological site of ancient Palace of Emperor Charles V. or Duration: 8 hours – max. 20 persons per guide – walking tour including the above programme plus the visit to the cathedral of St Michael and St. Gudula, the crypts, and the Tapestry hall at the Royal Museum of Art & History, Cinquantenaire )

Brussels –known as Bruocsella, its first name that means house on the marsh – benefits from an excellent geographical situation including natural streams of water like the Senne and the Maelbeek. Land of vegetable and fruit farming, the town is surrounded by seven hills and a large forest abounding in game; In the 10th century, a citadel is built on St. Gery Island.
Trade flourished at the upper limit for shipping on the Senne.
In the 11th century, an axis east west was added to the existing north-south communication axis. The agricultural activities became more professional and industrial whereas the juridical status of the city came into existence at the beginning of the 12th century.

The union of the counties of Leuven and Brussels formed the Duchy of Brabant. A broad picture of the history of Brussels will be outlined with the reigns and dynasties of the dukes of Lower Lotharingia, Brabant, Burgundy, the Spanish Habsburgs, the Austrian Habsburgs and their governors-general, and also the French and Dutch rule up to 1830.

Anew era was started when Philip the Good was recognised as Sovereign of the States of Brabant on October5, 1430
In those days, the trade corporations acquired political and social rights whilst on the other hand the “lignages”, the influential patrician families of Brussels, were pursuing their conflict of interest. The Duke began to show a reference for Brussels: the Court and government institutions followed his lead.

During this walking tour you will have the chance to see town houses which were built in the renaissance style, with crow-stepped gables and small towers.
From the Middle Ages onwards, the country’s rulers favoured Brussels and the Coudenberg hill as a residence. The Counts of Leuven felt very attached to the Coudenberg.
We will visit the old Broodhuys (Maison du Roi) located at the Grand’ Place, the very heart of the life of the town for 8 centuries. In the 15th century the house contained a series of financial offices whose tasks were collect taxes and to protect the duke’s interests in the town. The building was named the “Duke’s House”. Later when Charles V became King of Spain, the building was called the King’s House. 

The Maison du Roi became a place of prestige during the reign of Margaret of Austria and later in the reign of Charles V, and at the end of the 19th century the city’s historical museum was founded. During the visit (1 hour) you will be able to see among the splendid stained glass windows depicting the coat of arms of the estates which were part of Charles’s empire; the third tapestry of the suite called the “Legend of Our Lady of the Sablon”. It depicts an event, which inspired the Brussels Ommegang, and also to be seen are various paintings evoking the ducal palace of Coudenberg. 

We will then go to the Place Royale where the old palace of the Dukes of Brabant also known as the Court, or Palace of Coudenberg or the Palace of Charles V stood. The castle which dates back to the 12th century, had been extended many times and embellished with the passing centuries. In 1452, the Duke of Burgundy Philip the good had the Aula Magna built – it’s in this big hall that Charles V was emancipated in 1515, and abdicated in 1555. Unfortunately in 1731 a fire broke out inside this once so magnificent palace, and nothing was spared. The layout of the actual Place Royale on the ruins of the ancient palace dates back to 1781. (Duration minimum 1h30)

In 1995, the City of Brussels took the initiative to carry out excavations in collaboration with the Société Royale d’Archéologie de Bruxelles. The results of the excavations brought to light the remains of the Aula Magna and also different levels of the building, which had been preserved. These huge works are part of the “Tracé Royal” conception.
In the Royal Museum of Fine Arts which is quite close, you will have the opportunity to admire the beautiful portraits of Philip the fair and Joan of Castilla, Margaret of Austria, and Charles V wearing the Golden Fleece necklace.
 
During the reign of the emperor the Parc de Bruxelles was cram fuelled of with flower- beds, there were trails covered with moss, gardens and vineyards. One could find different kinds of fruit trees, deer, does and fallow - deer. In this area, with plenty of wild boars and rabbits, hunting was forbidden. This park was called the "Warande".  
We continue our walk to the Saint Michael & Saint Gudula Cathedral, a collegiate church in those days. Some historians locate the original parish of Brussels in the vicinity of the site where the actual cathedral stands; A first church existed however already on St Gery Island were Charles of France, duke of Lower Lotharingia, had a fortress built in 977. The relics of St. Gudula were piously kept in a shrine in this primitive church. In 1047, the relics were conveyed to St. Michael’s church.
It’s during the 12th century that the church came under the patronage of both St Gudula and St. Michael. In 1961, when Brussels became the seat of the diocese Malines-Brussels, the collegiate church of St. Michael and St. Gudula began to be known as the St. Michael’s cathedral. Kings, princes and governors came to kneel inside the church the day of their State Entry.

Any event of importance in relation with the history of Belgium and Brussels left a mark.
In the 14th century the duke of Brabant, John II and his wife, Margaret of York, were buried in Brussels In the 15th century Philip the Good who founded the Golden Fleece order brought together the Knights of the Golden Fleece in Brussels.

The façade and the two towers of the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula were completed during the reign of Charles V. Since its construction up to this date, the church is the pride of the City and has had its hour of glory specially when Charles V was proclaimed King of Spain in 1516.

We must admire facing one another the beautiful stained glass windows representing Charles V and his wife Isabella of Portugal, and Mary of Hungary and her husband Louis II of Hungary. Reference will be made to the reign of the Archdukes Albert & Isabelle, governors of the Low Countries in the 17th century, when visiting the historical heart of the City and the ancient palace of Coudenberg. Their grave is to be found under the altar of the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and was violated during the French Revolution in 1789. The choir shelters the crypt containing the graves of the Dukes of Brabant, Anthony of Burgundy, Catherine de Valois, John of Burgundy, the Archduke Ernest, governor-general of the Netherlands and of Leopold of Belgium. Its stylistic elements range from the transition from Romanesque to Gothic through Early and High Gothic.
The archaeological diggings carried out by the Société Royale d’Archéologie de Bruxelles in the Romanesque crypt and the Gothic choir, and also in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament are terminated and the site can now be visited.
(Duration: +/-30 minutes.  Maximum 8 people are allowed to enter the crypt at the same time and they always have to be accompanied by an official guide from the Cathedral or Brussels Tourism)

By coach or underground we can now reach the Royal Museums of Art and History at the Cinquantenaire to admire two tapestries which belong to the famous suite known as  "The Legend of our Lady of Sablon", as well as the supposed cradle of the Emperor, a prestigious work of art dating back to the 15th century. This work is one of the only remains of the furniture from the ancient Palace of Coudenberg. 

Conception: Brussels International

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