were destroyed when the bombardment resumed. When the bombardment resumed, the city was hammered even harder across an even larger area: on the north, towards the Mint and the Dominican convent, where large quantities of furniture, heirlooms, works of art and family archives had been stored and would soon be lost underneath the rubble. To the east, fear spread that the St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral would be destroyed, and its riches were evacuated. The area around what is now the Brussels-Central railway station and the Chapel of Mary Magdalene of Brussels were ablaze, and the Récollet convent, already hit the night before, was near completely destroyed. Destruction then came to the Saint John Hospital, and in the night, to the Church of the Chapel. By the morning of August 15, the entire city centre was an enormous brazier. To save the surrounding city by stopping the spread of the fire, Max Emmanuel used gunpowder to demolish numerous buildings to form a giant firebreak around the affected area, despite strong opposition by the buildings' owners. The French batteries did not stop firing until the middle of the day, after 48 hours of bombardment. Damage As the populace had time to take refuge, the bombardment itself caused relatively few casualties, the number of deaths being small relative to other battles. Nevertheless, there are records of a man killed in the first salvo, of two lay brothers crushed under the ruins of their convent, four patients burned alive in Saint John Hospital, and of both residents trying to save their possessions and looters alike being buried alive under the rubble. The material damage was documented by local artist Augustin Coppens whose own house had been destroyed and who made detailed drawings of the destruction of his hometown. 12 of these drawings were engraved, some with the help of his friend Richard van Orley and the plates published in Brussels later that year under the title Perspectives des Ruines de la Ville de Bruxelles. They were also reproduced in different sizes and colors by the German engraver Peter Schenk the Elder in Amsterdam and provide an important record of the impact of the bombardment. Constantijn Huygens, William's Secretary for Dutch affairs, visited Brussels and in his diary entry for September 11, he writes that the 'ruin caused...was horrible...and in many places, the houses reduced to rubble.' Cultural and material losses were staggering, according