Place de la Vaillance


The Place de la Vaillance is the main square located in the historic centre of the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht. It is served by Saint Guidon/Sint Guido metro station on line 5 of the Brussels metro.

History and layout

The square was originally known as the Place de la Plaine. In the 1910s, it was considerably enlarged. As early as 1912, historicist style houses fitted with Baroque gables were erected. A second wave of construction followed a redevelopment of the square.
On the Place de la Vaillance, there was a cinema called Le Vaillance, that opened in 1931 and closed in 1969, and is currently a Dutch-language music academy. At the corner of the square and Rue du Chapitre/Kapittelstraat is a 17th-century house which long served as an inn and now houses the Dutch-speaking cultural centre "De Rinck". The monument dedicated to the heroes of the First World War by Victor Voets, which occupies its southern side, has been listed since 2013.

Surroundings

The Place de la Vaillance is bordered to the north by the Collegial Church of Saint Peter and Saint Guido, named after Saint Guy, patron saint of Anderlecht, who died in 1012. This church, mentioned for the first time in 1075, was built in Flamboyant Gothic style between 1350 and 1470. Its square tower was completed in 1898 by the addition of an octagonal spire. Beneath the church lies a Romanesque crypt.
Close to the church is the Old Beguinage of Anderlecht. This building dates back to the 13th century and was restored in 1634 and 1978. It is currently a museum. Not far from there, on Rue du Chapitre, is Erasmus House, a beautiful Renaissance style house where the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam stayed in 1521. This site is now a museum dedicated to Erasmus and the humanist movement. The house is complemented by a garden which includes a space for medicinal herbs. Not far away is the picturesque Rue Porselein/Porseleinstraat, as well as the Maurice Carême Museum.