Mont des Arts
Terraced garden and grand staircase built over a razed medieval hillside, framing sweeping views of the city skyline.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Mont des Arts in Brussels centers on a vote the city council took on November 19, 1894, pitting King Leopold the Second's dream of a grand arts quarter against mayor Charles Buls, who wanted to save the tangle of medieval streets and old stairways already climbing this hill. It follows Buls's defeat and resignation, the wrecking crews that flattened the neighborhood in 1897 and 1898, and the years the site sat as an empty hole that locals nicknamed, half mockingly, the mountain of the arts. Stand near the top of the staircase and look toward the Grand Place tower on the skyline as you listen.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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