Hallepoort

Hallepoort is also known as Halle Gate Brussel and is the former city gate. This 14^th century city gate was built in the year 1381 as a second set of defensive wall. The name was brought on after the city of Halle, which the gate actually faces toward Flemish Brabant. Although the original portcullis and drawbridge over the moat are not in existence today, the structures are still visible today.

Other six gateways and defensive walls in Brussel had been demolished, the Halle Gate survived and was used as a prison. Other times, it was used for grain storage, a customs house and even a Lutheran church. Between the years 1868 and 1870, an architect named Henri Beyaert restored the building and changed the austere medieval tower to more romantic Neo Gothic embellishments and features.

Today, the city gate is a museum that was more recently restored in the March of 2007 and officially reopened in June of 2008. Within the museum, there can be found the Armour and Armaments room, the Gothic Room, the Guilds Room, a temporary exhibition space put in use most of the time, a walkway around the battlements that offer a great panorama of the city and the roof space for more small exhibitions.

Hallepoort in brief

Trivia

Did you know that the original structure of it included a portcullis and a drawbridge over a moat??