On this tour we will discover the old districts in the upper part of the city, at the summit of Coudenberg Hill. Compared to the old quarters established in the Lower Town around the Grand’Place, which mostly played a commercial role, the ones in the Upper Town had a more aristocratic function. It is here that were built the grand mansions, assembled around the Sablon church and the old Brussels Palace, which is now long gone.
Starting from the Justice Palace, with its fantastic 19th-century architecture, we will go down Régence Avenue, a typical 19th-century thoroughfare. On our walk we will encounter the lovely Place du Grand Sablon; the Petit Sablon park; the Frison Hotel, designed by the celebrated Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta; and the Gothic church of Notre Dame de la Chapelle, where painter Pieter Breughel the Elder is buried. The first part of our walk will focus mostly on the 19th century, while we will encounter monuments from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance later on.