De Brouckèreplein

De Brouckèreplein is a sprawling, paved rectangular square in the heart of Brussels, easily recognized by the dense concentration of theaters, cinemas, and hotels that line its perimeter. It occupies a site created between eighteen sixty-seven and eighteen seventy-one, when the city vaulted over the Senne river to allow for new urban development. The square stands where the seventeenth-century Augustinian church once rose; the church was demolished in eighteen ninety-three to clear the space for this central hub.