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Grand-Place de Mons

The Grand-Place (former spelling: Grand'Place) is the main square of the historical centre of the Belgian city of Mons.

The Grand-Place, which is very spacious and similar to others Grand-Places in Flanders, is located next to the pedestrian shopping street and the belfry. The outskirts of the place is accessible by car, but it is forbidden to park or to drive through the centre. Each year, during the Trinity Sunday, it is the stage of the fight called Lumeçon, a fight between Saint Georges and a dragon.

The Grand-Place is paved in the style of the old cities and is home to many cafes, restaurants, as well as the chapel and the Town Hall that dominates the place with its huge structure, stature, construction (emblematic presence). It responds to its historical traditions, like a master plan to follow, the Town Hall as well as the theatre. We can also admire a statuette of wrought iron that was inserted into the Town Hall's facade at an unknown date. It represents a monkey that is so much stroken by the inhabitant of Mons and tourists from all over the world that its skull is polished.

History

It was on the Grand-Place of Mons that some of the condemnations of criminals were executed.

In 1791, before the execution of their sentences, Alexandre Buisseret and Félix-François Gérin ( two accomplices of the robber Moneuse) were exhibited respectively for six and two hours. They were fastened to a post placed on a scaffold, in view of the population. Above their head, on a sign, were written in big letters, their names, their professions, their address, the reason of their condemnation and the judgment given against them.

On Friday the 5th of June 1807, the guillotine was dressed in the lower part of the place of Mons, pnear the rue d'Havré to proceed to the execution of eight convicted persons, la bande à Boulanger. Those were hooded and were brought by cart. The younger convicts were decapitated first and the leader of the gang, Jean-Joseph Boulanger, last. Mons was at that time under Napoleon's regime.

On the 16th of June 1846, Euphrasie Deroux was executed there for infanticidal on her two-year's daughter. Originally from Montignies-lez-Lens, she was the last women of Belgium to be guillotined.

On the 19th of July 1851, Hippolyte Visart de Bocarmé was also executed, he had been condemned to have poisoned his brother-in-law with nicotine.

The monkey

Ancient of several centuries, the exact origin of the presence of this monkey hanging next to the porch, on the facade of the Town Halll, is unknown. There are 3 theories: the masterpiece of a blacksmith, the sign of a small café or a pillory for "unruly" children. The only thing that is certain is that it has become the lucky charm of the city of Mons, if we stroke his skull of the left hand. A legend that has been fabricated entirely by Paul Heupgen in 1930.

The Lumeçon

Once a year, on Trinity Sunday, the "Lumeçon" takes place there. It's a tradition because during the Middle Ages, the friary of Saint-Georges had for mission to participate to the procession and to relate the life of its patron saint. The most emblematic episode is the fight that he did against the dragon and that was interpreted as a holy mystery within the procession itself. Having become popular and noisy, disturbing the order required for the procession, the friary was out of the tour and had togo into exile in the place to interpret the fight, which still explains the spatio-temporal difference between the two events. The friary would be reintegrated in the procession during the second part of the 20th century. This tradition gather the adults, as well as the children, who enjoy a copy adapted to their age on the Sunday of the Feast of Corpus Christi, when they grab the horsehair placed at the end of the dragon's tail. This is a sign of good lucky charm attributed by the tradition. The word "Lumeçon" comes from "snail": the participants of the fight spin in the wrong direction, that gives a graphic effect of a snail shell. The current word is a derivative of the ages and the popular practice.

Notes and references

MHAN2016