The BELvue Museum (; ) is a museum in the

Royal Quarter The Royal Quarter ( or ; or ) is a quarter in the historic upper town of Brussels, Belgium. It is situated between Brussels Park, the Royal Palace, the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg and the Sablon/Zavel. It is an excellent example of 18th-ce ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium, focusing on the

history of Belgium For most of its history, what is today Belgium was either a part of a larger territory, such as the medieval Carolingian Empire, or was divided into a number of smaller states which were prominent among them. The pre Belgian states being, the Duc ...

. It is managed by the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF). The museum is housed in the Hôtel Belle-Vue, an 18th-century neoclassical building between the Place des Palais/Paleizenplein and the Place Royale/Koningsplein, next to the

Royal Palace of Brussels The Royal Palace of Brussels ( ; ; ) is the official palace of the Monarchy of Belgium, King and Queen of the Belgians in the centre of the nation's capital, Brussels. However, it is not used as a royal residence, as the king and his family l ...

. This site is served by

Brussels-Central railway station Brussels-Central railway station (; ) is a railway and metro station in central Brussels, Belgium. It is the second busiest railway station in Belgium and one of three principal railway stations in Brussels, together with Brussels-South and ...

, as well as by the metro stations Parc/Park (on lines 1 and 5) and Trône/Troon (on lines 2 and 6).

History

The BELvue Museum is housed in the Hôtel Belle-Vue, a five-level ''

hôtel particulier () is the French term for a grand urban mansion, comparable to a Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse. Whereas an ordinary (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a ...

'' (townhouse) dating from the late 18th century. This neoclassical building formed part of an architectural complex built after the

Palace of Coudenberg The Palace of Coudenberg (; ) was a royal residence situated on the Coudenberg or Koudenberg (; Dutch for "Cold Hill"), a hill in what is today the Royal Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. For nearly 700 years, the Castle and then Palace of Couden ...

burned down in 1731. It was originally built by Philippe de Proft to install a luxury hotel for travellers. The Place Royale/Koningsplein and its surrounding buildings were a site of fighting during the

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was a conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. The ...

. It was there that the coronation ceremony of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, King of the Belgians, took place on 21 July 1831. The buildings then served as a residence for members of the

Belgian royal family The monarchy of Belgium is the constitutional and hereditary institution of the monarchical head of state of the Kingdom of Belgium. As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/queen of the Belgians and serves as the ...

, including the future King Leopold III and Princess Astrid. In 1977, the Hôtel Belle-Vue was converted into a museum building, housing a collection from the nearby Royal Museums of Art and History. After 1992, two small museums opened in the building relating to the history of the Belgian monarchy: the Dynasty Museum (, ) and the King Baudouin Memorial (, ). In 2005, the Hôtel Belle-Vue reopened as a museum devoted to the

, presenting a chronological display about the nation's history since 1830.

Museum

Since its opening, the BELvue Museum, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF), has completely renewed its permanent exhibition. Employing a theme-based approach and with a modern, interactive exhibition layout, the museum offers visitors the keys to understanding Belgium and Belgian society. Seven social themes are addressed in the rooms: democracy, prosperity, solidarity, pluralism, migration, language and Europe. Each theme is firstly presented from the perspective of the present day, then subsequently developed and explained through the history of Belgium. This overview of Belgium's past and present is complemented by a gallery of more than 200 objects. Presented chronologically from the 19th century to today, the pieces embody Belgium's "physical memory". Visitors will find everyday objects, works of art and design, well-known brands, scientific discoveries, references to great sporting achievements, as well as objects that recall the richness of the country's popular culture.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Anne-Marie Mariën-Dugardin, ''Porcelaines du musée Bellevue'' (in French), Musées royaux d'art et d'histoire, Brussels, 1988

External links