Cities of Belgium: Grant Allen's Historical GuidesAllen, Grant
History
Cities of Belgium: Grant Allen's Historical Guides
Allen, Grant
Belgium -- Guidebooks
The immense area of Brussels =outside the Outer Boulevards= I cannot
pretend to deal with. Pleasant walks may be taken at the E. end of the
town about the Chaussée de Louvain, the Square Marie-Louise, the
Exhibition Grounds, the Parc Léopold (near which is the too famous Musée
Wiertz), and the elevated land in the eastern quarter generally. The
=Bois de la Cambre=, the true park of Brussels, makes a delightful place
to walk or drive in the afternoon, especially on Sundays. It somewhat
resembles the Bois de Boulogne, but is wilder and prettier. Perhaps the
most satisfactory way of visiting it is to take the tram to the gate of
the wood, and then walk through it.
* * * * *
There are =three other churches=, beside the Cathedral, in the
neighbourhood of the Place Royale, which you may go to see, _if_ you
have plenty of time left, but which you need not otherwise trouble
about. The three can be easily combined in a single short round.
Go down the Montagne du Parc, and take the first turning to the L., Rue
des Douze Apôtres, which will bring you direct to the little =Chapelle
de l’Expiation=, erected in 1436, on the site of the synagogue where the
Stolen Hosts were profaned, and in expiation of the supposed crime. The
exterior of the building has been modernized, and indeed the whole is of
little interest, save in connection with the Cathedral and the Stolen
Hosts; but a glance inside is not undesirable. The interior, flamboyant
Gothic, is thoroughly well decorated throughout, in modern polychrome,
with scenes from the Gospel History. The Apse has good modern
stained-glass windows, and frescoes of angels holding the instruments of
the Passion. It is separated from the Nave by a high Rood-Loft, without
a screen. Modern taste has here almost entirely ignored the painful and
malicious story of the Stolen Wafers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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