4 Best Sights in Geraardsbergen, Vlaamse Ardennen

The dominant building on the market square is the Stadhuis (Town Hall), a fairy-tale-like medieval aldermen house. Its turrets once ran to street level, but various sieges and fires have taken their toll. It has been frequently redesigned, but gained its current neo-Gothic facade in 1891. The architect drew inspiration from a 17th-century engraving of the building and sought to give it back its medieval charm, sapped by endless renovations. Beside it you'll find a pair of replica fountains: the Mannekin Pis and the Marbol, the original of which dates back to 1392. 

Everyone knows the Manneken Pis. It's Brussels's famous peeing cherub, or is it? The modern version standing in the capital is actually a replica of a statue made by Jérôme Duquesnoy in 1619 to replace the original 15th-century fountain (then known as "Petit Julian") made in 1450. Around the same time, in 1452, Geraardsbergen was in the process of being destroyed by Ghentish forces. In rebuilding the city, they ordered a new lattoenen mannekin ("man in brass") from the Brussels fountain master Jan Van Der Schelden. By 1459, the peeing putto (cherub) was in place, and while a replica now stands in the square, the original can still be seen in a new visitor center beside the town hall. So, while Brussels's statue was made first, it is long since gone, and Geraardsbergen's is the older surviving example. If you arrive on the first Sunday of June, it gets even more curious, with the traditional "throwing" of a golden Manneken Pis from the steps of the Town Hall. And it gets stranger still: inside the visitor center, you can also see a selection of 300 special outfits gifted to the statue. 

A popular local joke goes that there are only three famous walls: Berlin's, China's, and Geraardsbergen's. The Muur (or "Wall") is a cobbled street that runs up Vesten, Oudenbergstraat, and Kapelmuur, culminating at a pretty neo-Baroque chapel on the summit of Oudenberg Hill. It is here where the annual Karakelingen and Tonnekensbrand processions center each year in spring. The actual hill is only 360 feet high, but the steep cobbles are infamous among cyclists, and it is a regular section in the Tour of Flanders. The walk up is less than a mile, but it isn't too punishing. It takes around 25 minutes from the river and is worth it for the views.  

Much of the current church building was built in the 15th and 16th centuries. By the mid-1700s, though, it had received a Baroque makeover, with its impressive pulpit one of few surviving items from that era. Come the 19th century, the church acquired its current neo-Gothic interior and spectacular murals. Most prized of all are the relics of St. Bartholemew, which were moved here in 1515. Since then, a procession has taken place on the Sunday around his saint's day (August 24), where the relics are carried from the church and paraded around the city, followed by a folk festival on the main square.