2023-09-10 16:12:00
Last week we talked regarding the 35th edition of Heritage Days in Wallonia. Please note, before discussing the Brussels version, that this Sunday the Open Monumentendag will also take place in Flanders. The opportunity also to discover gems, such as Rubens Castle, in Zemst, a place where the painter lived the last five years of his life, which we will talk regarding once more next week, because it is accessible for the first time to the public for a few weeks and offers many activities this Sunday.
Let’s come to Brussels, in this year when Art Nouveau is in the spotlight. Is this style accessible to everyone? Firstly, to get a start on the answer, we advise you to go through the program and, in case you are tempted by a guided tour or any other activity requiring prior reservation, to consult the site https://heritagedays.urban.brussels/.
One thing is certain: the subject is promising, given the success already experienced since the start of the year. And throughout this weekend of September 16 and 17, you will learn more regarding the historical, technological or social contexts which saw Art Nouveau emerge at the end of the 19th century. What types of materials did this architecture use, what constraints did this lead to, leading to a particular way of ensuring its conservation. Last question addressed: how do Art Nouveau and its furnishings still influence our way of living in the city today?
By opening the theme to the influences of Art Nouveau and its followers, inevitably, many neoclassical or eclectic buildings on the one hand, modernist and contemporary, on the other hand, will also be open. This will allow all Brussels municipalities to participate, because the main Fin de Siècle and Art Nouveau buildings are found in the municipalities located between the First and Second Belts of Brussels. However, a municipality like Woluwe-Saint-Lambert also retains Art Nouveau houses, designed by architects less known than Horta, Hamesse, Hankar or Struyven, but entirely representative of the movement.
Restorer Claire Fontaine will explain how to restore wall paintings and sgraffito during two guided tours on Sunday, departing from the Otlet hotel, 13 rue de Florence, in the Louise district. This walk will allow you to discover wonders like the Ciamberlani Hotel, the Hankar House, the Roosenboom House or the Gobelet Hotel in Alviella.
Another visit entitled “Rock, paper, scissors: Art Nouveau professions in Saint-Gilles” will focus on the excellence of the craftsmen on whom the great architects of the time might count. However, they did not leave their name to posterity, despite their talent.
Detail of the facade of the Cauchie house, rue des Francs in Etterbeek. ©Jean Bernard
Many public buildings in the city of Brussels are Art Nouveau or inspired by it, in front of which we pass without necessarily raising our heads, whether it is the Charles Buls monument, at the corner of the Grand-place, or the one dedicated to Frédéric de Madeode, place des Martyrs, the Jeanne Ashbé crèche, 16 rue Locquenghien, the Diderot institute, rue des Capucins 54-58, the Catteau-Victor Horta nursery school, rue Saint-Ghislain 36-40, from the house of the painter Albert Cortvriendt, rue de Nancy 6-8, the astonishing Palais du Vin, rue des Tanneurs 58-62, the Max Waller monument, place Ambiorix or even the funerary monuments of the Brussels cemetery, in Evere. Here too, guided tours will be organized, for which reservations are strongly recommended.
If, often, Art Nouveau is linked to the Brussels upper bourgeoisie of the end of the 19th century, this architectural style was also found on social or workers’ buildings, such as rue Rodenbach and rue Marconi, in Forest.
Small reminder, Sunday is also car-free day in Brussels.
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