Saint Gery

Like many other neighborhoods, Saint-Géry owes its name to an old parish: San Gaugerico de Cambrai. He was bishop of that city in French Flanders. The parish church was located in the place occupied today by Les Halles Saint-Géry, the old market, better known by night than by day. The Saint-Géry church was destroyed in 1799, under French occupation, and gave rise to a square on which the market was built almost a century later.

According to legend, it was founded by Saint Gaugerico around 580 on the island that bears his name. Gaugerico came here with the intention of converting the Brussels, who were pagans. Tradition also maintains that he was not only the evangelizer of Brussels, but was, in part, its founder, since the city would have begun to develop around this church, on the island formed by the Seine.

In any case, today, the only thing that reminds us of the Saint-Géry church in its neighborhood is an inscription installed on Les Halles in 1907. The rest, unfortunately, disappeared over time, like so many other things in Brussels.

In the square you can find a good number of breweries where you can try one of the 1220 beer brands in Belgium. Yes, it sounds incredible but it’s true. In Belgium we have more than 1200 brands of beer! The most interesting place is the market where temporary exhibitions are also held. Furthermore, on the first Sunday of each month here you can enjoy a vintage market.