Martyrs' Square

This guide to Martyrs' Square in Brussels opens in late September 1830, days after fighting ends in the city, when officials have hundreds of dead from the uprising against Dutch rule and no plan for a tragedy of this size. It follows the decision to bury them beneath this square, once a bleaching field for laundry, and the Liberty monument raised here eight years later by architect Louis Roelandt and sculptor Guillaume Geefs. Look for the four angels guarding its pedestal, each named for a stage of sacrifice.