Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Municipal Hall, municipal hall in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels, Belgium

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Municipal Hall is a pale grey ashlar corner building with a rounded corner bay rising into a domed tower. The tower is topped by a hemispherical green copper dome with a small finial and ringed below by a colonnade of tall dark openings between grey columns. Beneath the tower, a recessed arched entrance porch holds a stair reached by a wide flight of stone steps; two flags hang from poles on the curved facade.

The present hall replaced the Prado building, a former theatre turned municipal hall that stood on the same spot until its demolition was approved on 4 October 1886. Mayor Henri Hollevoet appointed public works official Jean-Baptiste Janssens as architect, and the new building was inaugurated on 28 September 1889 with a popular ball on the Place Communale. It was listed as protected heritage on 13 April 1995.

The building's 1889 inauguration was marked by a popular ball on the Place Communale, and the names of Molenbeek's mayors are engraved in the marble of the entrance hall. A portrait of Henri Hollevoet, the mayor who opened the hall, hangs above the staircase of honour.

The building is located on Rue du Comte de Flandre and easily accessible from the street. It serves local administration purposes, so you should check regular opening times if you need to handle official matters.

The mayor's office sits directly under the dome, whose ceiling carries an allegorical painting by Amédée Lynen symbolising Education, Public Assistance, Civil Protection, Justice, Art and Letters, and Marriage. The hall also holds works by Bruegel the Elder, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Spilliaert, Laermans and Somville, built up from the 1960s and from the 450-piece bequest of local critic Sander Pierron, who died in 1945.