Saint Hubertus Galleries

When you admire the beauty of these Saint-Hubert galleries, you cannot imagine what kind of terrible history preceded their construction. In the beautiful book Brutopia, reporter and author Pascal Verbeken describes how the working-class neighborhood Îlot Sacré, an ordinary working-class district, was leveled after nearly 10 years of making life miserable for the owners to make them move out. A desperate barber, Pameel, slit his own throat with a razor out of despair and protest. But that did not prevent the establishment of one of the city's most popular attractions here in 1846: the Saint-Hubert galleries. It was also the year that Karl Marx stayed here in Brussels. He also commented on the inhumane approach to this demolition and construction. He saw it as a "reflection of the macroeconomic reality: the upper class abusing its power against a powerless lower class."

Dromos