Hendrik Conscience Square

Even though there is no reference in the name, water once flowed where the Hendrik Conscience Square is now located. “You can still see that on very old city maps,” says Erwin. “All the buildings that stand here today were built in the seventeenth century. The Saint Charles Borromeo Church was completed in 1621. The Jesuits had the ditch that ran here covered with sandstone. During the ditch walk, you can still clearly see that sandstone when you walk beneath the square.”

“What is particularly special is that there is a door in the church's cellar that leads directly to the ditches. It could once have been an emergency exit, but there is no certainty about that. What is known is that the door has been bricked up for decades. Nowadays, it is open again, and even ditch walks start from the church.”

Mediahuis België