🇧🇪 Brussels

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert

Must-See ★ 4.6 · 42k reviews

Photo: Image by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0

The world's first shopping mall, is a light and airy triple-gallery enclosing boutiques, bookshops, cafés, restaurants, and a theater and cinema. The Saint-Hubert Royal Galleries are an ensemble of glazed shopping arcades in Brussels, Belgium. Designed and built by architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer between 1846 and 1847, they precede other famous 19th-century shopping arcades such as the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan and The Passage in St Petersburg. Like them, they have twin regular facades with distant origins in Vasari's long narrow street-like courtyard of the Uffizi in Florence, with glazed arched shopfronts separated by pilasters and two upper floors, all in an Italianate Cinquecento style, under an arched glass-paned roof with a delicate cast-ironframework.

Visitor Info

Rating ★ 4.6 42,000 reviews

Visit Time ~30 min

Best Time Morning or a rainy afternoon

Insider Tips

· Look up at the glass roof as much as at the shop windows
· It is a strong choice for chocolate, coffee, and a sheltered stroll

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is this really the world's first covered shopping arcade? ▾

Yes — opened in 1847, the Galeries Saint-Hubert predates even the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan by nearly two decades, making it the world's oldest surviving shopping arcade.

Who designed the galleries? ▾

Belgian architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer designed the neo-Renaissance arcade; it was inaugurated by King Leopold I on 20 June 1847.

Is entry to the galleries free? ▾

Walking through the galleries is completely free at all hours; you only pay to enter individual shops, the theatre, or the cinema.

What are the three sections of the galleries? ▾

The complex is divided into Galerie du Roi, Galerie de la Reine, and the shorter Galerie des Princes, all connected under the same ornate glass-and-iron vaulted roof.