Grand Place

This guide to the Grand Place in Brussels opens on two nights in August 1695, when King Louis XIV sent Marshal Villeroi's gunners to bombard the square's Town Hall spire and pull allied troops away from a siege at Namur. It follows what the cannons actually hit as fire spread from roof to roof across the guildhalls of brewers, bakers and boatmen who once met here. Listen for how the square looked by the time the guns fell silent, best done standing at its center facing the tower.