Brussels audio guide: the stories of its sights

The Atomium in Brussels was never meant to last.

It was built to stand for just six months, and then it was supposed to be pulled down. It is a landmark made of nine stainless-steel-clad spheres, each 18 metres across. Together they form the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal. It was the centrepiece of the 1958 World's Fair, known as Expo 58. But the visitors loved it. So the demolition was put off, year after year, until the city's authorities decided to keep it.

Then came a long stretch of neglect. For 30 years, little maintenance work was done. Today the Atomium is a museum, an art centre and a cultural destination. It is also the most popular tourist attraction in Brussels. The top sphere holds a restaurant with a panoramic view. And children aged six to twelve can spend the night in the children's sphere, sleeping inside a landmark that was once meant to vanish.

Imagine a statue that owns a thousand outfits.

In Brussels, a small bronze boy has exactly that, and his wardrobe is bigger than most people's dreams. This is Manneken Pis, a fountain in the heart of the city, near the Grand-Place. It is a bronze statue of a naked little boy, just 55.5 centimetres tall, who is relieving himself. He is the best-known symbol of the people of Brussels and of their humour.

His dressing-up goes back a long way. In 1615, he wore a shepherd's costume for the Ommegang procession. By 1756, an inventory listed five complete suits in his wardrobe. Then the collection took off. In 1994, he had more than 400 costumes. By 2005, more than 750. By 2016, more than 950. And since 12 May 2018, the count has stood at a round thousand.

Today, on festive occasions, the water is swapped for other drinks, beer among them. Since 2017, a museum in the Rue du Chêne shows the finest of his costumes. So you can meet the little fellow in the street, and his grand wardrobe just around the corner.

The scaffolding around the Palace of Justice of Brussels has needed repairs of its own.

It has been standing since 1984, and part of it had to be renovated itself. The palace is a huge building in an eclectic style, on the Poelaertplatz. It is home to the judicial district of Brussels and several courts, including the Court of Cassation. Its foundation stone was laid in 1866, and it was inaugurated in 1883. So the scaffolding put up to restore the building grew old in its turn.

Even now, it is not due to come down before 2030. At the end of 2014, the city of Brussels came up with an idea. It proposed covering the scaffolding with tarpaulins.

The town hall tower was the gunners' best landmark, and it was still standing when the smoke cleared.

In August 1695, French troops under Marshal de Villeroy shelled Brussels, and the Grand-Place was at the heart of it. The Grand-Place is the central square of Brussels. Guild houses surround it, along with the town hall and the Maison du Roi, the King's House. Victor Hugo thought it one of the most beautiful squares in the world. Back in 1695, during the War of the League of Augsburg, most of the houses around it were destroyed.

Some were still built of wood. Only the façade and the tower of the town hall were spared, even though the gunners used that tower as a precious point of reference. The guilds did not give up. They rebuilt their houses richly, this time in stone. On the house called Louve, a phoenix rises from the flames. It is a symbol of the city's rebuilding after the bombardment.

Today the square has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1998. And in every even year, around the weekend of 15 August, it disappears under a giant carpet of flowers. More than half a million begonias and dahlias make it up, laid out where the fire once raged.