Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert

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The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is a shopping mall in the center of Brussels. It was designed by the Dutch architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar (1811-80) and opened in 1847 under the rule of King Leopold I on the occasion of the independence celebration of Belgium. The 213 meter long arcade consists of two parts, the Royal Gallery and the Queen's Gallery, which are separated by a collonade. In the passage, pilasters separate the shop windows of individual shops. The building with its slightly curved glass roof in a cast-iron frame represents a mixture of Italian Renaissance architecture and more recent technology of the 19th century. Originally, the shopping arcade also served to replace the narrow-built and poorly lit inner-city section of Brussels between the Grasmarkt (Marché aux Herbes) and the Kruidtuinberg (Montagne aux Herbes Potagères) by a street, thus making the area more attractive to people of higher society.