| Full text |
160 Route 12. MALINES. From Brussels
science, bearing to the right, to the Porte d’Egmont (Pl. C, 5),
traverse the Place d’Egmont, and cross the Dyle (picturesque view).
Near the bridge, to the right, are the Athénée Royal (PI. C, 4),
the old Lodge of the Teutonic Order (‘Commanderie de Pitsembourg’),
dating from the 17th cent. (now a school), and the Botanical Garden
(open daily from May 1st to Oct. 15th, adm. 1/s fr.; free on Mon. &
Frid. in fine weather only), adorned with a marble statue of Dod-
onezus (1547-85; Pl. D), a native of Malines.
On the left side of the Bruul, which leads hence to the Grand’
Place, is the Jesuit church of Notre-Dame du Val-des-Lis (Pl. C, 4),
built by L. Faid’herbe in the baroque style in 1662 (facade com-
pleted in 1715).
The Granv’ Pracs (PI. B, C, 3), or marketplace, is still sur-
tounded by picturesque gabled houses of the 16-{8th century. —
Immediately to the right is the old Crotu Haun (Halles; Pl. ©, 3),
rebuilt in 1314-26 on the model of the Halles of Bruges (p. 36).
The uncompleted belfry bears a superstructure of the 16th cent.,
with two octagonal turrets. The unimportant Musée Communal
(open free on Sun. & holidays, 10-1 & 2-4; adm. at other times
'/9 fr., on application to the ‘portier’, Rue de la Halle 14, on the
S. side of the building) contains a collection of civic antiquities,
and some old and some modern pictures, including a Crucifixion by
Rubens (?) on the first floor. — The N. wing of the Cloth Hall, in
the Rue de Beffer (p. 162), was begun in 1529 by Rombout Kelder-
mans of Malines in the late-Gothic style for the Great Council, but
was left unfinished and has been under reconstruction since 1902
to accommodate the Post and Telegraph Office (Pl. 11; C, 3).
In the Grand’ Place is a statue of Margaret of Austria (P1.9), by
Jos. Tuerlinckx (1849); on the pavement round the monument is in-
dicated the size of the dials of the clock of St. Rombold (see p.161).
— On the N.W. side is the Hétel de Ville (Pl. B, 3), built in the
beginning of the 14th cent., but entirely remodelled in 1715. — On
the S. side, and standing a little way back from the Place, is the
Gothic Vieux Palais (1374), the old ‘Schepenhuis’ (P1. 13; B, 3), or
house of the bailiffs, from 1474 to 1648 seat of the Great Council, but
now containing the City Library and the valuable Municipal Archives
(closed on Thurs. & Sun. afternoons). Among the contents of the last
are the city’s account-books since 1344, and in the former is a ‘gra-
duale’ or hymn-book from the chapel of Margaret of Austria (1511).
The *CaruEeprat of St. Rombold or Romuald (St. Rombaut;
Pl. B, 3), begun at the end of the 13th cent., completed in 1312,
but to a great extent rebuilt in the 14-46th cent. after a fire in
1342, has been the archiepiscopal metropolitan church since 1560.
It is a cruciform Gothic church with a richly-decorated choir
and a huge unfinished late- Gothic W. tower (318 ft. in height),
which was begun in 1452 and intended to be the highest tower in
Christendom (projected height 550 ft., 22 ft. higher than the spire |
