Belgium and Luxembourg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Architecture

Throughout its history, Belgium’s international bonds have

linked it to the changing trends of European architecture.

It was first influenced by Romans, then by the Christian

Church and later by styles from across trans-European

trade routes. Belgian architecture mirrored trends in Italy

and France, moving from Romanesque through Gothic

to Baroque and Neo-Classical. However, it always added

its own distinctive touches, as seen in the robust muscu-

larity of Scheldt Gothic, in the graceful Brabant Gothic

and in the Flamboyant Gothic of town halls. In the 1890s,

Belgian architects pioneered the Art Nouveau style.

28 INTRODUCING BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

St-Niklaaskerk in Ghent (see

pp132–3) was built between the

13th and 15th centuries in

the austere and elegant Scheldt

(or Scaldian) Gothic.

The Collégiale Ste-Gertrude

(built 1046) at Nivelles is in

the Romanesque style called

Ottonian, with the high, tur-

reted Westbau (see p199)

forming a second transept.

St-Romboutskathedraal in

Mechelen is a masterpiece

of Brabant Gothic. After

three centuries, work ceased

suddenly in 1546, leaving

the tower unfinished.

The Stadhuis in Leuven (see p160)

was built between 1448 and 1463

and is the most magnificent exam-

ple of a secular Flamboyant Gothic

building in Belgium. Its façades are

encrusted with elaborate stonework

of lace-like intricacy, and hun-

dreds of fine statues and carvings.

Cathédrale Sts-Michel-et-

Gudule (see p63) is con-

structed mainly in the

Brabant Gothic style of the

14th and 15th centuries.

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400

1000

ROMANESQUE

1100 1200 1300 1400

GOTHIC