Amos Chapple Visuals

“Beautiful from afar, but far from beautiful,” is how some locals describe the crowning figure of Brussels’ town hall. The statue was first emplaced on the building’s spire by a brave team of workers all the way back in 1454.

It depicts Michael, the patron Saint of the Belgian capital, slaying Satan. The lord of darkness perhaps hit back in 1863 when a lightning strike blasted the sword out of Saint Michael’s hand. The weapon reportedly clattered onto the cobbles of the Grand Place 100 meters below.

The statue has been restored and retouched several times through its life and in the 1990s it was taken down and replaced with a copy. The ancient original now lives in a museum in Brussels, still sporting flecks of its original gold coating.