Buildings on Grand-Place Square in Brussels, Belgium Jun 25, 2026

Buildings on Grand-Place Square in Brussels, Belgium

Few squares in Belgium wear history as well as the Grand Place. The surrounding buildings, seen here, began as guild houses, each funded by a specific trade. Brewers, bakers, merchants and craftsmen treated architecture as language, translating work, status and rivalry into stone through reliefs, coats of arms and generous gold leaf. Styles meet without caution. Gothic verticals rise beside Baroque curves, while the Town Hall, older than its neighbours and unapologetically asymmetrical, holds the composition together.

© Vladislav Zolotov/Getty Images Plus

palette

Today in History

A temple to treasure
The bears of summer
Jun 25, 2024Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, USA
Jun 25, 2025Glastonbury Festival begins

More Desktop Wallpapers:

An anglers paradise
Mar 4, 2026Purple crocus flowers, Seven Rila Lakes, Bulgaria
What the heck is a distaff?
Jan 19, 2024Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
Mar 1, 2024The holy city of Varanasi
Dec 17, 2025Eurasian red squirrel in Northumberland, England
Mar 31, 2024Happy Easter!
Jul 16, 2026Rath Yatra
Sep 2, 2023Allens Hummingbird
This magical beach is worth the hike
Sharks, just living their lives
‘Night shining’ clouds
Mar 14, 2025Lathmar Holi
Jun 15, 2025Happy Fathers Day!
Sep 29, 2025Rainbow houses, Houten, Netherlands
Oct 22, 2025Belogradchik Rocks, Bulgaria
Apr 11, 2025Tulips, Netherlands
Want to hang about?
Feb 22, 2026Mam Tor, Derbyshire, England
All is calm
More of a moustache than a beard?
Feb 16, 2024Female pyrrhuloxia in Texas, USA
Mar 2, 2025Megalong Valley, Blue Mountains National Park, NSW, Australia
Jan 23, 2026Þorrablót, Icelandic midwinter festival
A sky full of stars
Fragrant fields as far as the eye can see
Walking a rocky rainbow
Feb 21, 2024Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park, California, USA
Jun 20, 2026Arched iceberg, western Antarctic Peninsula, Southern Ocean
Oct 4, 2023World Space Week