Your favorite piece of architecture:
With no doubt, Hotel de Ville, the oldest building in Grand Place, with a 96-meter tower topped by a statue of the Archangel Michael, patron saint of the city, masterpiece of Gothic architecture and where the Town Hall functions.
There’s a lack of symmetry in this building! Why?
There’s a tale saying that during its construction, the architect left the building and went to France after a great love.
As the work was left unattended by the architect, the result was the lack of symmetry in the roof windows (one side has more than the other), the crooked tower and the door off the central axis!
When he saw this, the architect went up to the tower and threw himself! The love of his life did the same, and in the top of the tower there are two coffins!
Gotta love a love story right? Now the truth, the reason of this lack of symmetry is that this work was begun in 1402 by the architect Jacob Van Thienen and the other part, added by Carlos, Duke of Burgundy in 1444 and the bell tower designed by Jan Van Ruysbroek.
