Second walls of Brussels

The second walls of Brussels ( _nl. tweede stadsomwalling, _fr. seconde enceinte) were a series of fortifications erected around the Belgian city of Brussels between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the "small ring", a series of roadways in downtown Brussels bounding the historic city centre, follows its former course. Halle Gate is the largest remaining portion of it.

A new set of walls

Since the construction of the first walls of Brussels in the 13th century, the city had grown extensively and had become quite important. On account of this growth, the first walls were no longer large enough, as the city had begun to spread out beyond them. It became clear that further defences, better adapted to the current era, needed to be adopted. In 1356, following a succession conflict between the Duchy of Brabant and the County of Flanders after the death of John III of Brabant, in which the existing city walls had offered little protection, city authorities decided to build a new set of walls. Among the authorities contributing to the decision was Everard 't Serclaes hero of the fight to retake the city, who had been named "schepen".

Erection of fortifications

The wall was to have a length of nearly 8 km (5 mi), which was enough to enclose the surrounding hamlets and fields that supplied the city. [cite web | title = fr Les origines | url = http://www.brussels-online.be/fr/ville.php?spartie=Pratique&rubrique=Histoire | publisher = brussels-online.be | accessdate = June 10 | accessyear = 2008] There were to be 72 semicircular towers along the wall. There were seven main gates, corresponding to the seven entries into the first walls of Brussels, but the similarities mostly end there. The second was a monumental project and represented a colossal undertaking for the period. The design was fairly typical of medieval defences before the introduction of gunpowder, and was surrounded by a moat in the lower parts of the city. The two sets of walls coexisted until the 16th century, when the original set of walls began to be dismantled.

Evolution of defences

In the 16th century, there were seven gates: Laeken, Flanders, Anderlecht, Halle, Namur, Leuven and Schaerbeek, each named for the direction of the road leading out of the gate. An eighth was added in 1561, the Canal Gate, designed to control access to Brussels' port from the newly constructed Willebroek Canal.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, new siege weapons and techniques, including the advent of artillery, forced the city to modernize the defences in order to keep potential attackers at a safe distance from the walls, including the addition of ditches, bastions and ravelins. Monterey Fort was the most important defensive work, its name coming from the Spanish count responsible for modernizing the defences. The fort was built between 1672 and 1675 on the heights of "Obbrussel" (Upper Brussels, now Saint-Gilles), south of the Halle Gate, by the military engineers Merex and Blom. As with the rest of the city's fortifications, the fort was ineffective, and was not able to prevent the French bombardment of Brussels in 1695, from the heights of Scheut, in Anderlecht, as part of the War of the Grand Alliance. The defensive works proved equally ineffective when French troops seized the city in 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession; afterwards the defensive works were in ruins. By that time, siege was no longer an important part of warfare. Due to the growth of commerce and improved roads, the fortifications did little more than frustrate transit into and out of the city.

In 1782, Emperor Joseph II ordered the dismantling of most fortifications in the Low Countries, including those of Brussels.cite web | title = fr Histoire des fortifications de la ville de Bruxelles | url = http://www.idearts.be/magazine/dossiers/fortification/fortifications.htm | publisher = iDearts | date = 2003 | accessdate = Feb 16 | accessyear = 2008] The dismantling work of the exterior defences began in the east of the city. Monterey Fort was sold and destroyed, and all of the Gates were razed with the exception of Laeken Gate and Halle Gate.

In 1795, when Republican France invaded and annexed the Low Countries, the demolitions were stopped, not resuming until an order from Napoleon in 1804. Laeken Gate was destroyed in 1808. By an ordinance on May 19 1810, the French Emperor ordered the second walls demolished and replaced by boulevards with a median in the centre. The fall of the First French Empire prevented the project's immediate execution.

Construction of the small ring

With the return of stability, in 1818 authorities organized a contest for plans to demolish the ramparts and replace them with boulevards suited to the exigencies of contemporary life in the city. The proposal of Jean-Baptiste Vifquain was ultimately chosen. It involved construction of squares and boulevards, with spaces to walk and two to four rows of trees lining the route, a main road and parallel side roads. A barrier with a ditch running its length was still installed, however, and customs houses built at the entrances, to allow continued taxation of commercial goods entering the city. The extension of the canal on the west of the city was also envisioned, but that would not be effected until the construction of the Charleroi Canal around 1830. The work was to be financed by selling the land that was freed up, although this took over twenty years to do.

In 1830, as Belgium gained its independence, demolition work had reached Halle Gate. Since its closing, it had served as a military prison, and later as storage of archives. The new government decided to spare it. In 1840, the street just inside of the gate was raised 3 metres, making it impassable to vehicles. From 1868 to 1871, as the city was being modernized, architect Hendrik Beyaert, with little regard for historical accuracy, transformed the austere medieval tower into something of a neo-Gothic castle, which fit better with the contemporary romantic perception of the middle ages.

In 1860, the taxes on commercial goods were lifted, and the last barrier between Brussels and its suburbs was destroyed. The intersections at Anderlecht Gate and Ninove Gate are the only two where the customs houses still stand. Those of Namur Gate were moved, and now stand at the end of Avenue Louise/Louizalaan, at the entrance to the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos.

Although modified, Halle Gate is the last remnant of the second walls of Brussels. Their course can be seen by the current Small Ring, although it stops short of Halle Gate, and they still define the downtown of Brussels, often called the pentagon. In the 1950s, with pressure from the automobile, new plans to improve traffic flow were implemented, partly due to the 1958 World's Fair. Later tunnels were dug, and one of the main lines of the Brussels Metro now runs primarily underneath the small ring. Today, the small ring is a major arterial ring road.

References