A history of Belgium from the Roman invasion to the present day . es to express the spirit ofa period of centraUzation, when local privilegeswere progressively sacrificed to the general in-terest of the State, and when the prince gatheredunder one sway the various States among whichthe Netherlands had been divided. When lookingat the Gothic Town Halls of Brussels, Louvainand Bruges, with their flowered traceries andluxury of ornament, one might be misled intotaking them for the palaces of the prince ratherthan for the expression of municipal is nothing about them of the strength
A history of Belgium from the Roman invasion to the present day . es to express the spirit ofa period of centraUzation, when local privilegeswere progressively sacrificed to the general in-terest of the State, and when the prince gatheredunder one sway the various States among whichthe Netherlands had been divided. When lookingat the Gothic Town Halls of Brussels, Louvainand Bruges, with their flowered traceries andluxury of ornament, one might be misled intotaking them for the palaces of the prince ratherthan for the expression of municipal is nothing about them of the strength anddefiance expressed in the great haUes andbelfries of Ypres, Bruges and Ghent. The latterwere, as we have seen, erected for two were, so to speak, a central citadel raisedin the middle of the town, from the towers ofwhich the sentinel sounded the alarm and calledthe citizens to arms to defend their privilegesand protect their homes against the attacks ofany enemy from outside, not excluding the princehimself. Behind their thick walls and battle-. GOTHIC TOWN HALLS II3 ments, the archives and charters of the townswere jealously preserved. On the other hand, the halles afforded a meeting-place for foreign andlocal merchants and a warehouse where theirgoods were stored. They constituted fortifiedcovered markets, and the combination of thesemilitary and economic characteristics is visiblein every outline of the building and reveals thedominant aspirations of an age which succeededin emancipating the city from the autocraticrule of the suzerain and in safeguarding the tradeand industry of its None of these features is apparent in the hotels de ville of the Burgundian slender outline and small proportions excludeany idea of defence. Compare, for instance, thegraceful spire of Brussels with the proud andmassive belfry of Bruges, and the almost feminineaspect of the Louvain Town Hall with the forbiddingmasculinity of the destroyed Ypres Cloth
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1921
