Centre of Art Nouveau and a showcase of architectural innovation - Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels) 1005; Stoclet House 1298; Processional giants and dragons in Belgium and France 00153
What and Why
Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture, decorative art and applied art that came into fashion during the turn of the 20th century CE. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and flowers and is characterised by organic curvy patterns. Other characteristics of Art Nouveau were a sense of dynamism and movement, often given by asymmetry or whiplash lines, and the use of modern materials, particularly iron, glass, ceramics and later concrete, to create unusual forms and larger open spaces. It was the main trend for buildings, interior design, graphic arts, jewellery and decorative art during that short but important era.
The first major Art Nouveau buildings that appeared in Brussels (French: Bruxelles) during the same time, when the designer-architect Victor Horta constructed a number of inspirational buildings, starting with Hôtel Tassel, and the movement took off in France, Spain, Russia and beyond. As a result Victor Horta joined a prestigious club of very few architects, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, Le Corbusier (né Charles Jeanneret), Luigi Vanvitelli, and Frank Lloyd Wright to be honoured by UNESCO for their epoch-making contributions to world architecture by having his works enlisted under UNESCO WHS under his name.
Toponymy
Brussels derives from the Old Dutch word Bruocsella, and hence the Dutch name Brussel. It means marsh and home from the stem bruoc- and -sella, hence home in the marsh. Belgium is truly bilingual in Dutch and French, while the earlier blogged Bruges (Dutch: Brugge) and most other parts of Belgium is more Dutch-speaking, Brussels is 90% French.
See
We follow the walking path that I did during my visit as in the map below. This is almost a grand tour of architecture appreciation as it turns out Brussels is full of surprises in this discipline.
Hôtel van Eetvelde
The brown building along the middle of the street is Hôtel van Eetvelde, which was designed in 1895 CE for Edmond Van Eetvelde, administrator of Congo Free State (État Indépendant du Congo), the present territory of Congo-Kinshasa. Congo Free State was privately owned by the then Belgian King Leopold II (né Leopold Lodewijk). The building features strongly the use of industrial materials like steel and glass and this becomes an icon of future urban residential buildings. By the way the word hôtel in French does not necessarily mean hotel, it means in this case more like a hall or a mansion.
Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts)
The main cultural arena in Brussels, Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts) is commonly referred to as Bozar, from its homophone of beaux-arts in French. The centre is also home of the National Orchestra of Belgium (Dutch: Nationaal Orkest van België). It is the last of Horta's work, took more than a decade to complete and was completed only in the 1932 CE, due to the very irregular landform it was standing on.
Horta Museum (Musée Horta)
Horta's own private house and atelier during the late 19th century CE, Horta Museum (Musée Horta) and is a permanent display of furniture, utensils and art objects designed by Horta and his contemporaries. The interior is an explosive display of the organic curves and whiplashes, and the staircase is one of the most photographed.
Hôtel Solvay
One of the most famous buildings of Horta's as it almost incorporates every of his ethos, the Hôtel Solvay is a large townhouse commissioned by the son of the famous chemist Ernest Solvay. Solvay is made famous and very rich due to his namesake Solvay process of manufacturing ammonia. With almost unlimited resources, Horta could realise his designs in full detail: furnitures, decorations, tablewares, making use of precious materials commonly unavailable like precious stones and foreign woods. The residence can only be visited under quite strict arrangements.
Hôtel Tassel
The building that started it all, the relatively unassuming Hôtel Tassel is widely considered as the first true Art Nouveau building, because of its highly innovative plan and its groundbreaking use of materials, especially steel, to realise all the curvy features of Art Nouveau. Its interior staircase is the most photographed piece and if you google Horta's work, this is likely to be the first to appear.
Stoclet Palace (Palais Stoclet)
The Stoclet Palace (Palais Stoclet) was not designed by Horta, but by another famous architect Josef Hoffmann for the Belgian financier Adolphe Stoclet. His work exhibits a branch of the Art Nouveau movement, known as Vienna Secession (German: Wiener Secession) as it was started by a group of Hoffmann's Austrian peer architects. Stoclet Palace is easily the masterpiece of this movement and hence gained immediate international acclaim and recognition. The building was designed and constructed in the 1910s CE.
The current building is actually vacant but is not open for visit as it is privately owned by the Stoclet's family. In fact this is the probably the first UNESCO WHS that I am not allowed to visit.
The street-facing facade is technically the back garden only. The front is actually enclosed and one cannot see this, unless you are inside the compound. Age has clearly caught up and taken a toll onto the building and as I have to say it looks more like a abattoir or a factory rather than a posh residence.
Atomium
There are other important architectural buildings outside the city centre that deserve visit. One of the icons of Brussels and perhaps Belgium is the modernistic Atomium.
Atomium was originally built for Expo 58, held in of course Brussels, promoting the scientific progress during the time. Currently a museum and a conference venue, the design is the shape of a unit cell of an α-iron (ferrite) crystal, magnified 165 billion times.
Basilica of Sacred Heart (Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Cœur)
The Basilica of Sacred Heart (Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Cœur) is one of the largest Roman Catholic church in the world and has a seating capacity of more than 3,300 people. Dedicated to the Catholic devotion of the sacred heart (Latin: sacratissimum cor), the Art-Deco cathedral was constructed in 1905 CE for the 75th anniversary of Belgian independence. However the constructed halted a number of times during the 20th century and was only completed in 1970 CE.
The church sits on a small hill in the north of Brussels and you can get a very good view of Brussels from the site.
Buy and Do
Belgian lace (Dentelle belge)
Belgian lace (Dentelle belge) is amongst the best in the world, renowned for its delicate patterns and beauty. Do make sure it is really made in Belgium and not from Asia. There are plenty of shops around Brussels, and avoid the city centre for a good lace. Belgian lace has been in production since the 16th century CE.
Meyboom
During my visit I was fortunate to come across the annual festival of the Meyboom in Brusssels.
The Meyboom festival, or May tree festival is a folk festival that is held annually on the 9th August, since the Middle Ages. According to tradition, the celebration commemorates a victory of Brussels over the nearby city of Leuven in 1213 CE. This victory was made possible when the city guild, The Companions of Saint Lawrence, defended against Leuven's aggression. Upon victory, the city planted the tree, or the tree of joy, with the date fixed on the the eve of Saint Lawrence's (Latin: Laurentius) Day, the guild's patron saint.
During the festival's processions, there is a marching band, and various prominent giant puppets (poepedroegers), and along the processions, branches of the tree are distributed, supposed to bring good fortune for the year to come. This ancient folk tradition, in particular the procession of giant puppets, is now considered a major ICH to be preserved.
Eat and Drink
Waffle (Gauffre)
Brussels waffles (gauffres) are crisp and have large pockets compared to other waffles varieties and are only rectangular in shape. The other famous waffles are from that of Liège which are thick, chewy and round. The Brussels waffles are usually served warm and traditionally dusted with icing sugar only, although in tourist areas they might be tweaked to suit tourists' taste by topping it with whipped cream, ice-cream or nutella. They are sold ubiquitously.
I was told that the so-called 'Belgian waffles' were simply another American invention, in which they plagiarised and modified the Brussels recipe to suit the Americans' tastebuds. There are only Brussels and Liège waffles.
Stay
I stayed in the affordable Ibis, which is just a five-minute walk from the city centre. Great stay, no frills.
Getting There and Around
The outer Brussels is massive but the city is well connected by metro, to access the many little sites the best way is to take the metro in this map. These sites will easily consume you at least two days, as they are far apart and scattered. The entrance fee to the Horta Museum is EUR €10.
UNESCO Inscriptions
The four major town houses - Hôtel Tassel, Hôtel Solvay, Hôtel van Eetvelde, and Maison & Atelier Horta - located in Brussels and designed by the architect Victor Horta, one of the earliest initiators of Art Nouveau, are some of the most remarkable pioneering works of architecture of the end of the 19th century. The stylistic revolution represented by these works is characterised by their open plan, the diffusion of light, and the brilliant joining of the curved lines of decoration with the structure of the building.
When banker and art collector Adolphe Stoclet commissioned this house from one of the leading architects of the Vienna Secession movement, Josef Hoffmann, in 1905, he imposed neither aesthetic nor financial restrictions on the project. The house and garden were completed in 1911 and their austere geometry marked a turning point in Art Nouveau, foreshadowing Art Deco and the Modern Movement in architecture. Stoclet House is one of the most accomplished and homogenous buildings of the Vienna Secession, and features works by Koloman Moser and Gustav Klimt, embodying the aspiration of creating a ‘total work of art' (Gesamtkunstwerk). Bearing testimony to artistic renewal in European architecture, the house retains a high level of integrity, both externally and internally as it retains most of its original fixtures and furnishings.
Traditional processions of huge effigies of giants, animals or dragons encompass an original ensemble of festive popular manifestations and ritual representations. These effigies first appeared in urban religious processions at the end of the fourteenth century in many European towns and continue to serve as emblems of identity for certain Belgian (Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen and Mons) and French towns (Cassel, Douai, Pézenas and Tarascon), where they remain living traditions. The giants and dragons are large-scale models measuring up to nine metres in height and weighing as much as 350 kilos. They represent mythical heroes or animals, contemporary local figures, historical, biblical or legendary characters or trades. St. George fighting the dragon is staged in Mons; Bayard, the horse from the Charlemagne legend, parades in Dendermonde; and Reuze Papa and Reuze Maman, popular family characters, parade at Cassel. The performances, often mixing secular procession and religious ceremony, vary from town to town, but always follow a precise ritual in which the giants relate to the history, legend or life of the town.
Giants and dragons enliven popular festivals where they are the main actors at least once a year, as each effigy has its specific feast day. They act out historical scenes and dance in the streets to the accompaniment of fanfares and costumed people. The crowd follows the procession, and many participants help in the preparations at different stages of the festival. The construction of a giant and its ongoing maintenance require months of work and know-how in many techniques given the range of materials used. Although these expressions are not threatened with immediate disappearance, they do suffer from a number of pressures, such as major changes to town centres and increasing tourism, leading to the detriment of the popular, spontaneous nature of the festival.
References
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