Place de Brouckère

The Place de Brouckère (French: [plas də bʁu.kɛʁ]) or De Brouckèreplein (Dutch) is a major square in central Brussels, Belgium. It was created following the covering of the river Senne (1867–1871), replacing the Temple of the Augustinians, which was demolished in 1893. It is named in honour of Charles de Brouckère, a former mayor of the City of Brussels and professor at the Free University of Brussels, who played a great political role during the Belgian Revolution of 1830. The square measures approximately 50 by 350 metres (160 by 1,150 ft) and is nearly entirely paved.

• Place de Brouckère (French)
• De Brouckèreplein (Dutch)

The Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein in Brussels
Location within Brussels Show map of Brussels Place de Brouckère (Belgium) Show map of Belgium
Length	350 m (1,150 ft)
Width	50 m (160 ft)
Location	City of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
Quarter	Marais–Jacqmain Quarter
Coordinates	50°51′05″N 04°21′09″E / 50.85139°N 4.35250°E / 50.85139; 4.35250
Construction
Completion	c. 1870
Other
Designer	Léon Suys

The Place de Brouckère is located in the perspective of the Boulevard Émile Jacqmain/Émile Jacqmainlaan and the Boulevard Adolphe Max/Adolphe Maxlaan to the north, forming a "Y" crossroad, and the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan to the south.^[1] The area around the square is characterised by the presence of theatres, a large cinema, hotels and restaurants, as well as some of the city's most important entertainment venues and shopping streets. It is served by the metro and premetro (underground tram) station De Brouckère on lines 1, 3, 4 and 5.

History

Early history

The Place de Brouckère was laid out following the covering of the river Senne (1867–1871), as part of the major urban works by the architect Léon Suys under the tenure of the then-mayor of the City of Brussels, Jules Anspach.^[2][3] It took the place of the former Temple of the Augustinians.^[4] This church, built at the beginning of the 17th century in the Brabantine Baroque style, was the only remaining part of a convent destroyed in 1796 by French revolutionaries. The work to cover the river, which nearly surrounded the church, preserved the integrity of the building at great trouble and expense, but it was finally demolished in 1893, its style no longer popular with the people and its presence unsuitable for the area. Its facade's masonry, however, was preserved, being disassembled and reconstructed as the facade of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ixelles.^[5]

 

The Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein with the Anspach Fountain in the late 19th century

In the centre of the square, left empty by the destruction of the church, a granite fountain-obelisk dedicated to the memory of Jules Anspach, by the architect Charles-Émile Janlet [fr], was erected.^[6] Inaugurated in 1897, the Anspach Fountain was surmounted by a bronze effigy of Saint Michael, the patron saint of the City of Brussels, slaying a dragon or demon.^[7][8] This monument stood exactly in the axis of the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan, like a regulator of traffic at the birth of the fork between the Boulevard Émile Jacqmain/Émile Jacqmainlaan and the Boulevard Adolphe Max/Adolphe Maxlaan. Inseparable from the monumental perspective of the boulevards—and yet moved following the works of the metro—it is, through its dedication and former location, a tribute to Anspach.^[6]

For its role as a prestigious central square, its triangular configuration, and the presence of cinemas and theatres all around it, including the former Continental and Métropole café-hotels, La Scala theatre and Eldorado cinema (today's UGC De Brouckère), the Place de Brouckère could have been compared to a mini-Broadway in Brussels from the 1930s to 1960s, when large illuminated advertisements lit the square from the rooftops. Its appearance back then earned it international fame, and it was referenced in many works of music, among them Django Reinhardt's jazz song Place De Brouckère (1942). On 4 September 1944, the square was the scene of great jubilation during the liberation of Brussels by the British Guards Armoured Division. In the 1950s, it hosted one of the tourist pavilions of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair (Expo '58), built especially for the occasion.^[9]

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  The Place de Brouckère after the demolition of the Temple of the Augustinians. In the foreground, the Anspach Fountain is under construction.

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  The square on a pre-1930 postcard. Note the lower roof of the Hotel Continental.

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  British tanks arrive in Brussels on 4 September 1944, ending the German occupation

Redevelopment (1960s–present)

The south-eastern sides of the Place de Brouckère were razed in 1967–1971, at the same time as the two blocks delimited by the Place de la Monnaie/Muntplein, the Rue de l'Évêque/Bisschopsstraat, the Rue de Laeken/Lakensestraat, the Rue des Augustins/Augustijnenstraat and the Rue du Fossé aux Loups/Wolvengracht, to make room for the modernist Monnaie Center by the architects Jacques Cuisinier [fr], Jean Gilson [fr], André and Jean Polak [fr] and Robert Schuiten [fr], as well as the Philips Tower by Structures Architectural Bureau. On that occasion, car traffic was channelled in the square's centre between wide pavement-terraces fitted out in the "above-ground" style of the time with the addition of numerous benches, trees and planters.^[10]

The Anspach Fountain was removed in 1973 to make way for access to De Brouckère metro station.^[7] The authorities had promised to put it back in place after the works, but it was eventually reinstalled in May 1981 in a basin that occupies the space between the Quai aux Briques/Baksteenkaai and the Quai au Bois à Brûler/Brandhoutkaai, in the Sainte-Catherine/Sint Katelijne neighbourhood, some 700 metres (2,300 ft) from the Place de Brouckère.^[11]

If today almost all the signs have disappeared from the Place de Brouckère (with the exception of the Coca-Cola sign on the roof of the Hotel Continental), various attempts at revitalising the square are underway to bring it back to its heyday. In 2014, the City of Brussels' then-mayor, Yvan Mayeur, declared his wish to turn the square into "A Times Square in the centre of Brussels".^[12] Since 29 June 2015, the square has been pedestrianised, as part of a large pedestrian zone in central Brussels (Le Piétonnier). On that occasion, it was partially restored to its original appearance and was repaved.^[13]

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  The square in 1974 during the construction of De Brouckère metro station

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  The square in 2007, before its pedestrianisation and renovation

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  The square as it appears today

Places of interest

The Place de Brouckère is dominated by fin de siècle buildings, but modern colossi (most notably the Philips Tower and Monnaie Center) have also risen on its southern side since the 1960s. The focal point is the Hotel Continental (1874) by the architect Eugène Carpentier [nl], an eclectic building well recognisable to the people of Brussels because of the large luminous Coca-Cola sign on its roof.^[14] This roof, which was originally topped with an imposing copper sculptural group representing The Feast by Louis Samain, was considerably simplified following a fire that ravaged the building in 1901.^[15]

The eastern side of the square is home to the Hotel Métropole (1895), a former five-star luxury hotel originally designed by the architects Antoine Trappeniers [fr] and Alban Chambon [fr], where the first Solvay Conference on Physics and on Chemistry was held in the autumn of 1911.^[16][17] It was the only 19th-century hotel still in operation in Brussels in the 21st century until it closed its doors in April 2020 after 125 years of continuous operation.^[18] As of 1 January 2022^[update], its former brasserie, the Café Métropole, located next door, remains in use. The Northern Passage, an elegant 19th-century glazed shopping arcade also ends there.^[19] On the south-eastern side, next to the metro station's main entrances, are two covered shopping galleries: the Anspach Gallery^[20] and The Mint.^[21]

On the opposite side of the square stands a set of seven apartment buildings in an eclectic style with a dominant neo-Gothic influence, designed by the architect Léon Jules De Blois in 1873–1876.^[22] Next to it is another set of commercial buildings grouped together behind an austere facade of neoclassical inspiration, dating from 1872. The ensemble includes the former Eldorado cinema (1906), now the UGC De Brouckère, with its Grand Room featuring African-themed Art Deco motifs designed by the architect Marcel Chabot [fr] in 1931–32. This cinema complex has been listed as a protected monument since 28 April 1994.^[23] The south-western corner with the Rue des Augustins is occupied by a more recent building.^[10]

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  Hotel Métropole (Trappeniers, 1872–1874 and Chambon, 1895)

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  Café Métropole (Bordiau, 1872)

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  Hotel Continental (Carpentier, 1874)

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  Philips Tower (Structures, 1967–1969)

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  Monnaie Center (Cuisinier, Gilson, Polak and Schuiten, 1967–1971)

Accessibility

Before the construction of the pedestrian zone, the Place de Brouckère was an important junction for car traffic, and it is still an important public transport hub. Beneath the square is one of the busiest stations of the Brussels Metro: De Brouckère. There the east–west lines 1 and 5 intersect the lines 3 and 4 of the North–South Axis of the premetro. The bus stop on the Rue de l'Evêque/Bisschopsstraat, which leads into the square, is also the start and end point for various city and regional bus lines.

In popular culture

Music

• The Belgian-born French musician Django Reinhardt composed and performed a jazz song entitled Place De Brouckère (1942).
• The Place de Brouckère is referenced amid an evocation of the Belle Époque by the Belgian singer Jacques Brel in the song Bruxelles (1962).
• The square is also mentioned in a song entitled Bruxelles by the Dutch singer Dick Annegarn (1974).

See also

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein.

•  Belgium portal

• Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, an opera house close to Place de Brouckère
• Neoclassical architecture in Belgium
• Art Deco in Brussels
• History of Brussels
• Belgium in "the long nineteenth century"

References

Notes

1. Eggericx 1997, p. 5.
2. Demey 1990, p. 65.
3. Map of Suys' Proposal. City Archives of Brussels: P.P. 1.169
4. Eggericx 1997, p. 30.
5. "Ixelles - Église paroissiale de la Sainte-Trinité - Parvis de la Trinité - VAN YSENDIJCK Jules Jacques". www.irismonument.be (in French). Retrieved 19 May 2018.
6. Eggericx 1997, p. 31.
7. Mardaga 1989, p. 200.
8. Loze, Vautier & Vestre 1990, p. 40–41.
9. "Flashback : revivez l'époque où De Brouckère était Times Square !". Bruxelles Secrète (in French). 8 February 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
10. "Place De Brouckère – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural". monument.heritage.brussels (in French). Retrieved 25 January 2022.
11. . eurobru.com. 2007. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
12. Colleyn, Entretien>Mathieu. "Yvan Mayeur: "Un Times Square au centre de Bruxelles"". La Libre.be (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
13. "Project. Pedestrian zone". www.brussels.be. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
14. "Bruxelles Pentagone - Hôtel Continental - Place De Brouckère 41 - Boulevard Emile Jacqmain 1-1a-1b-3-5-7-9-11-13-15-19 - Boulevard Adolphe Max 6-10-12-22-26 - Rue Saint-Michel 1-5 - CARPENTIER E." www.irismonument.be. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
15. Eggericx 1997, p. 14.
16. "Bruxelles Pentagone - Hôtel Métropole - Place De Brouckère 31 - TRAPPENIERS A." www.irismonument.be. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
17. "Brussels City Centre Hotels | Hotel Metropole Brussels - About | Art Nouveau Hotel Brussels". www.metropolehotel.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
18. "Hotel Metropole in Brussel sluit de deuren: einde van een flinke brok hotelgeschiedenis". VRT NWS. 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
19. "Passage du Nord – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural". monument.heritage.brussels (in French). Retrieved 25 January 2022.
20. "Anspach Shopping - Your Shopping Center in the heart of Brussels". Anspach. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
21. "The Mint Brussels". 8 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
22. "Ancien cinéma Eldorado – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural". monument.heritage.brussels (in French). Retrieved 25 January 2022.
23. "Bruxelles Pentagone - Ancien cinéma Eldorado - Place De Brouckère 34-38, 40-42-44-46". www.irismonument.be. Retrieved 28 July 2019.

Bibliography

• Demey, Thierry (1990). Bruxelles, chronique d'une capitale en chantier (in French). Vol. I: Du voûtement de la Senne à la jonction Nord-Midi. Brussels: Paul Legrain/CFC. OCLC 44643865.
• Eggericx, Laure (1997). Les Boulevards du Centre. Bruxelles, ville d'Art et d'Histoire (in French). Vol. 20. Brussels: Centre d'information, de Documentation et d'Etude du Patrimoine.
• Loze, Pierre; Vautier, Dominique; Vestre, Marina (1990). Guide de Bruxelles XIXème et Art Nouveau (in French). Brussels: Eiffel Editions - CFC Éditions.
• Le Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique: Bruxelles (PDF) (in French). Vol. 1A: Pentagone A-D. Liège: Pierre Mardaga. 1989.