The "Halles" date from the 12th century, but were enlarged in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. _Pass under the vaulted entrance, to the staircase which leads to the upper stories and tower._ A spiral stair of 403 steps leads to the upper platform, which commands a very extensive and impressive view; on the one side, the littoral, with its watering-places and ports, stretching as far as Flushing; on the other side, the Flemish plain, with its towns, burghs, and villages. To the chequered history of this region, a new and far more tragical page has just been added. The visit to the tower comprises: the first story, in which is the "Big Ben" dating from 1680, and weighing nearly six tons; it was taken from Notre-Dame Church and placed there in 1800; the watchmen's room, and lastly the belfry proper, containing a peal of forty-six bells, cast in 1743, and rung either by a cylinder or a key-board. During the German occupation the bells remained dumb. [Illustration: +The Hôtel du Gouvernement provincial.+] The Hôtel du Gouvernement Provincial. This edifice was rebuilt in rich 16th century style (Gothic and Renaissance combined) after the fire which destroyed the original building in 1878. It stands on the site of the old "Water Halle" which was skirted by a canal, now covered in. The German invasion interrupted the completion of the right wing, at the corner of the Rue Philipstock. Excavations carried out on this site laid bare the old pillars of the "Water Halle". [Illustration] _Leave the Grand'Place by Rue de la Bride, at the corner of which is the =Hôtel des Postes= (Post Office). The tourist next reaches the Place du Bourg, in which are: on the left, the =Prévôté=; on the right, the =Hôtel-de-Ville=_, between the =Chapel of St. Sang= and the =Greffe=. The Prévôté. The Prévôté, formerly the residence of the Provosts of the Chapter of St. Donatian, was built in 1664. Its Renaissance façade has been partially restored. On the _terre-plein_ planted with fine trees, which adjoins it, stood the ancient Cathedral of St. Donatian, pulled down in 1790. Charles-le-Bon, Count of Flanders, was assassinated there in 1127. The Hôtel-de-Ville. This beautiful Gothic structure is ornamented with six storied corbel-turrets, covered with niches and small statues of the Counts of Flanders (1376-1389). [Illustration: +The Hôtel-de-Ville, separated from the "Greffe"+ _(on the left)_ +by the entrance to the narrow street of the "Ane aveugle"+.] Badly disfigured during the Revolution, the building was inartistically restored in 1854, as witness the small replace statues. The dependencies facing the narrow street "Ane Aveugle", the canal, and the rear of the Chapel of St. Sang, were either rebuilt or restored in modern times.