Editing Grand-Place (section)

===Destruction and rebuilding===
{{Multiple image
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| image1 = NIND MVB-Bombardement ISO200.jpg
| caption1 = The Grand-Place in flames during the [[Bombardment of Brussels (1695)|bombardment of Brussels]] in 1695. On the left, the [[Brussels Town Hall|Town Hall]]; on the right, the [[Brussels City Museum|King's House]], and in the background, [[Saint Nicholas Church, Brussels|St. Nicholas' Church]].{{sfn|Heymans|2011|p=20}}
| image2 = Richard van Orley (II), Augustin Coppens - Ruins on part of the Grand Place from the corner of the Heuvelstraat to St Nicholas.jpg
| caption2 = View of the ruins of the Grand-Place after the bombardment from the corner of the {{lang|fr|Rue de la Colline|italic=no}}/{{lang|nl|Heuvelstraat|italic=no}} towards St. Nicholas{{sfn|Heymans|2011|p=74}}
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On 13 August 1695, during the [[Nine Years' War]], a 70,000-strong [[Kingdom of France|French]] army under Marshal [[François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy]], began a [[Bombardment of Brussels (1695)|bombardment of Brussels]] in an effort to draw the [[League of Augsburg]]'s forces away from their siege on French-held [[Namur]] in what is now [[Wallonia]]. The French launched a massive bombardment of the mostly defenceless city centre with [[cannon]]s and [[mortar (weapon)|mortar]]s, setting it on fire and flattening the majority of the Grand-Place and the surrounding city. Only the stone shell of the Town Hall and a few fragments of other buildings remained standing.{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=120}}{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=20–21}} That the Town Hall survived at all is ironic, as it was the principal target of the artillery fire.{{sfn|Culot|Hennaut|Demanet|Mierop|1992}}

After the bombardment, the Grand-Place was swiftly rebuilt in the following four years by the city's [[guild]]s and other owners.{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=120}}{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=24–30}} Their efforts were regulated by the city's councillors and the Governor of Brussels, who required that their plans be submitted to the authorities for approval,{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=120–121}} and fines were threatened against those who did not comply.{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=24–30}}{{sfn|State|2004|p=132–136}} In addition, the alignments of the buildings were once again improved.{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=24–30}}{{sfn|State|2004|p=130}} This helped deliver a remarkably harmonious layout for the rebuilt square, despite the ostensibly clashing combination of [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]], [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] and [[Louis XIV style]].{{sfn|Culot|Hennaut|Demanet|Mierop|1992}}{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=120}}{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=24–30}}

During the following two centuries, the Grand-Place underwent significant damage. In the late 18th century, [[French Revolution|French revolution]]aries known as the ''[[sans-culottes]]'' sacked it, destroying statues of the nobility and symbols of [[Christianity]].{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=121}}{{sfn|Goedleven|1993|p=130}}{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=34–36}} The guilds declined in importance in conjunction with the growing obsolescence of this form of economic organisation and the rise of proto-[[capitalism]]. They were abolished in 1795, under the [[French First Republic|French regime]],{{sfn|State|2004|p=132–136}} and the [[guildhall]]s' furniture and archives were seized by the state and sold at public [[auction]] on the square in 1796.{{sfn|Graffart|1980|p=270–271}} The remaining buildings were neglected and left in poor condition, with their façades painted, [[stucco]]ed and damaged by pollution.{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=121}}{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=34–36}} The square itself was proclaimed "Square of the People" by a decree of the [[French Republican calendar|30 Ventôse An IV]] (1795) and a "[[Symbolism in the French Revolution#Liberty Tree|Liberty tree]]" was planted on that occasion. At the first hours of [[Belgian Revolution|Belgian Independence]], in 1830, skirmishes occurred on the Grand-Place,{{sfn|Goedleven|1993|p=148–152}} which became, for an extremely short time, the "Square of Regency".<ref name="is" />

By the late 19th century, a sensitivity arose about the [[Cultural heritage|heritage]] value of the buildings – the turning point was the demolition of the {{lang|fr|L'Étoile}} ({{langx|nl|De Sterre|link=no}}) guildhall in 1853 to widen the street on the left of the Town Hall in order to allow the passage of a [[Horsecar|horse-drawn tramway]].{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=34–36}}{{sfn|Heymans|2011|p=127–128}} Under the impulse of the [[List of mayors of the City of Brussels|city's then-mayor]], [[Charles Buls]], the authorities had the Grand-Place returned to its former splendour, with buildings restored or reconstructed.{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=121–122}}{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=46–47}}{{sfn|De Vries|2003|p=39}}{{sfn|Heymans|2011|p=127–153}} In 1856, a monumental fountain commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the reign of [[Leopold I of Belgium|King Leopold I]] was installed in the centre of the square.{{sfn|Goedleven|1993|p=161}} It was replaced in 1864 by a fountain surmounted by statues of the Counts of Egmont and Horn, which was erected in front of the King's House and later moved to the [[Sablon, Brussels#Petit Sablon|Square du Petit Sablon/Kleine Zavelsquare]].{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=123}}{{sfn|Goedleven|1993|p=163–165}} Thirty years later, during the ''[[Belle Époque]]'', a [[bandstand]] was raised in its place.{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=123}}{{sfn|Goedleven|1993|p=181}}

The Grand-Place attracted many famous visitors during that period, among them [[Victor Hugo]], who resided in the {{lang|fr|Le Pigeon}} ({{langx|nl|De Duif|link=no}}) guildhall in 1852,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Victor Hugo |url=http://www.brusselsremembers.com/memorials/victor-hugo |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Brussels Remembers |language=en}}</ref> as well as [[Charles Baudelaire]], who gave two conferences at the King's House in the 1860s.{{sfn|Goedleven|1993|p=166–167}} In 1885, the [[Belgian Labour Party|Belgian Workers' Party]] (POB/BWP), the first [[Socialism|socialist]] party in Belgium, was founded during a meeting at the Grand-Place, at the same place where the [[First International]] had convened, and where [[Karl Marx]] had written ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'' in 1848.{{sfn|Goedleven|1993|p=157, 222–223}}{{sfn|De Vries|2003|p=39}}

[[File:Flickr - …trialsanderrors - La Grand-Place, Brussels, Belgium, ca. 1895.jpg|thumb|left|The Grand-Place, {{circa|1895}}, with the [[bandstand]] in its centre]]