Around 3,000 people attended the first Ommegang show held about the Brussels Grand Place on Wednesday afternoon. The episode is going to be replicated on Friday evening. The Belgian actress Natacha Régnier took on the role of the French-speaking herald, the narrator of the story.
The procession, 2 kilometers long and comprising of over 700 extras, began at 8:45 pm from the Royal Park. It attained the Grand-Place, passing by the Sablon. A few hundred people saw the procession pass through the streets of their city and admired the scene position behind security fences. The approximately 2,200 spectators’ chairs set up at the grand-place were almost entirely satisfied by the time the show began.
The show, led by Giles Daoust and his team, also opened only a little late, approximately 9:15 pm rather than 9:00 pm, and lasted two hours. Daniel Henrotin, the comic strip artist, made examples, which were proposed on giant screens in the square. Thomas De Bergeyck played the master of ceremonies for the 4th consecutive year. Jo Lemaire handled the Dutch-language variation and comedian Bert Kruismans the English version.
The Ommegang was headed by 4-7 folk groups and 1,400 participants, for example 180 agents of the Belgian nobility. Flagshots marked first of the show. The parade of 4-8 eight and riders giants, including the renowned dragon of St-Georges, significantly more than 4 metres long, stood out among the many choreographed scenes. The light on the facades of these buildings from the Grand Place added into the air. Even a smaller fireworks display, coupled with a discharge of doves, closed the show.
The Ommegang was originally a procession in honour of Our Lady of the Sablon organised by the Great Oath of their Crossbowmen at the Center of the 14th century. Included in these celebrations, which destroys the Emperor Charles V’s introduction of his son Philippe into Brussels-dwellers at 1549, the Royal Park will stay lively until Saturday with equestrian jousting by knights and period matches happening in the’Renaissance Village’.
Evenings with lounge music may even allow one to relish the place at a more enjoyable setting.
