Tour Noire: The Medieval Rampart Bastion

Why is it significant?

Gaze upon the weathered, soot-darkened limestone masonry of the Tour Noire, or Black Tower, standing in surreal contrast against the glass-and-brick facade of a modern hotel.

Key Facts

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Gaze upon the weathered, soot-darkened limestone masonry of the Tour Noire, or Black Tower, standing in surreal contrast against the glass-and-brick facade of a modern hotel. Erected in the early thirteenth century as part of the first defensive city wall of Brussels, this sturdy semi-circular bastion has stood here for more than eight hundred years. The tower's circular exterior wall is over two meters thick at the base, built of rough-hewn fieldstone and sandstone rubble bound with lime mortar that has hardened like concrete over eight centuries.

The first wall of Brussels was constructed between twelve hundred and twelve thirty under Henry the First, Duke of Brabant. Stretching four kilometers in circumference with forty round watchtowers and seven fortified gates, the stone rampart enclosed the early settlement, protecting the port basin and ducal residence from marauding feudal armies. The rampart wall that connected this tower to neighboring watchtowers stood roughly eight meters high, crowned by a wooden sentry parapet where crossbowmen stood watch against raiding feudal knights.

By the sixteenth century, the original wall was obsolete, replaced by a much larger second outer ring. The Black Tower survived by being converted into a private grain storage depot, a tavern, and later an eccentric private townhouse where a local eccentric lived among ivy-covered battlements.

In eighteen eighty-eight, when city planners were demolishing old alleyways to construct modern streets, the tower was slated for demolition. Outraged citizens and heritage activists, led by Mayor Charles Buls, staged a passionate campaign to save the medieval relic, successfully restoring its crenellations and integrating it into the urban landscape you see today. Today, the tower stands as an inspiring symbol of historic preservation in Brussels, proving that ancient medieval heritage can coexist dramatically with contemporary twentieth-century commercial architecture.

Walk west along Rue Sainte-Catherine, cross Rue de Flandre, and slip down the alleyway at number forty-six to discover the hidden courtyard of La Bellone.