Everyone knows the Place de Brouckère. It’s the busy square in the heart of Brussels that Jacques Brel sang about in his 1962 hit song.
But not many people know about the man who gave his name to the square. Charles de Brouckère, he was called. Born in Bruges in 1796, he served in the Dutch army, became an elected member of parliament under Dutch rule, and switched sides after the Belgian Revolution.
He then played a leading role in the emerging Belgian nation. He helped to draft the Belgian Constitution, and served as a government minister as well as adviser to the new Belgian king.
De Brouckère was also involved in setting up the Belgian national bank as well as Brussels free university. In 1848, he became mayor of Brussels, and introduced a public water network. He was hugely popular with the Brussels population and died while in office in 1860.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
