The remainder of the Outer Boulevards, leading from the Gare du Midi to the Gare du Nord by the western half of the town, is commonly known as the Lower Boulevards, (Note the distinction of Upper, Lower, and Inner.) It passes through a comparatively poor quarter, and is much less interesting than the other half. The only objects of note on its circuit are the slaughter houses and the basins of the canal. Nevertheless, a complete tour of the Boulevards, Upper, Lower, and Inner, will serve to give you a better general conception of Brussels within the old walls than you can otherwise obtain.
I cannot pretend in this Guide to point out all the objects of interest in Modern Brussels, within this great ring. Speaking generally, the reader will find pleasant walks for spare moments in the quarter between the Rue Royale or the Rue de la Régence and the Upper Boulevards. This district is high, healthy, and airy, and is chiefly given over to official buildings. On the other hand, the quarter between these two streets and the Inner Boulevards, especially southward about the Place St. Jean and the Rue de l’Étuve, leads through some interesting portions of 17th century and 18th century Brussels, with occasional good domestic architecture. The district lying W. of the Inner Boulevards is of little interest, save in its central portion already indicated. It is the quarter of docks, entrepôts, and the more squalid side of wholesale business.
The immense area of Brussels outside the Outer Boulevards I cannot pretend to deal with. Pleasant walks may be taken at the E. end of the town about the Chaussée de Louvain, the Square Marie-Louise, the Exhibition Grounds, the Parc Léopold (near which is the too famous Musée Wiertz), and the elevated land in the eastern quarter generally. The Bois de la Cambre, the true park of Brussels, makes a delightful place to walk or drive in the afternoon, especially on Sundays. It somewhat resembles the Bois de Boulogne, but is wilder and prettier. Perhaps the most satisfactory way of visiting it is to take the tram to the gate of the wood, and then walk through it.
There are three other churches, beside the Cathedral, in the neighbourhood of the Place Royale, which you may go to see, if you have plenty of time left, but which you need not otherwise trouble about. The three can be easily combined in a single short round.
Go down the Montagne du Parc, and take the first turning to the L., Rue des Douze Apôtres, which will bring you direct to the little Chapelle de l’Expiation, erected in 1436, on the site of the synagogue where the Stolen Hosts were profaned, and in expiation of the supposed crime. The exterior of the building has been modernized, and indeed the whole is of little interest, save in connection with the Cathedral and the Stolen Hosts; but a glance inside is not undesirable. The interior, flamboyant Gothic, is thoroughly well decorated throughout, in modern polychrome, with scenes from the Gospel History. The Apse has good modern stained-glass windows, and frescoes of angels holding the instruments of the Passion. It is separated from the Nave by a high Rood-Loft, without a screen. Modern taste has here almost entirely ignored the painful and malicious story of the Stolen Wafers.
Now, continue down the Rue des Sols as far as the Rue de l’Impératrice (where a slight détour to the R. takes you in front of the Université Libre, a large and somewhat imposing, but uninteresting building). Continue rather to the L. down the Rue de l’Impératrice, crossing the Montagne de la Cour, into the Rue de l’Empereur and the Rue d’Or, till you arrive at the Place de la Chapelle, containing the church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle—after the Cathedral, the finest mediæval church of Brussels. The exterior has lately (alas!) been quite too much restored. It shows a fine Nave and Aisles of the 15th century, and a much lower and very beautiful Choir of the 13th century, with some Romanesque details of an earlier building (10th century?) Walk once round the church, to observe the exterior architecture. The West Front is massive rather than beautiful. The sculpture over the door (the Trinity with angels, and Our Lady) is modern. Over the southern portal is a modern relief, in a Romanesque tympanum, representing the Coronation of Our Lady by God the Father and the Son. The Romanesque and transitional work of the beautiful low Choir and Apse has unfortunately been over-restored.