Biéreau Farm ( French: ''Ferme du Biéreau'', formerly ''Cense du Bierwart'')Sylvia Noble-Bossicard, ''L'histoire de Limelette, Ottignies et Céroux-Mousty'', Éditeur Noble-Bossicard, 1983, p. 22 is an old Brabantine

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...

now turned into a cultural and musical centre. It is located in

Louvain-la-Neuve Louvain-la-Neuve (, French for ''New Leuven''; wa, Li Noû Lovén) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town ...

, part of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve (; wa, Ocgniye-Li Noû Lovén) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve had a total population of 29,521. The total area ...

, in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant (french: Brabant wallon ; nl, Waals-Brabant ; wa, Roman Payis) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Like Lauzelle Farm ( French: ''Ferme de Lauzelle''), it gave its name to one of the four subdivisions of

.Ghislain Geron, ''Patrimoine architectural et territoires de Wallonie: Court-Saint-Étienne, Mont-Saint-Guibert et Ottignies - Louvain-la-Neuve'', Service public de Wallonie et éditions Mardaga, 2010, p. 165

Location

The farm stands in the oldest district of the university city

, which is the ''Biéreau'' district, in the south of the city. Located between the ''Scavée of Biéreau'' and the ''Jardin Botanique Avenue'', it faces the concrete towers of the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering in the neighbourhood of the ''Lycée Martin V''. In front of the door, there is a large paved parking, bicycle parking, parking spots for disabled people and shared vehicles as well as a

kiss and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (r ...

Toponymy

The Walloon word "Biéreau" appeared in the 15th century as "Bierwart" and means "beautiful view" or "beautiful eyes".Site de la ferme du Biéreau
/ref> It comes from two Walloon words: "bia", meaning ''beautiful'', and "rwârt", meaning ''look'' or ''gaze''.Jean-Jacques Jespers, ''Dictionnaire des noms de lieux en Wallonie et à Bruxelles'', Éditions Racine, 2005, p.138

History

Origins

This Brabantine farm dating back to the 12th century and named in sources from 1601 was the property of Florival Abbey in the Belgian town of Archennes (part of the municipality of

Grez-Doiceau Grez-Doiceau (; wa, Gré; nl, Graven, ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006, Grez-Doiceau had a total population of 12,403. The total area is 55.44 km² which gives a populati ...

)Inventaire du patrimoine culturel immobilier de la Région wallonne
/ref>''Le Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique, Wallonie 2, Brabant, Arrondissement de Nivelles'', Pierre Mardaga éditeur, 1998, for more than six centuries: the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of Anne Josèphe de la Croix, abbess from 1733 to 1749, still stands proudly on the farm's

corps de logis In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture ...

. In 1991, the four scallop shells, standing for Louvain-la-Neuve, were used for the crest of

, next to the symbols of the other sub-municipalities of Céroux, Limelette, Ottignies and Mousty. The crest bears in its centre the Saint Benedict Medal, which is an encircled cross, above the Latin expression: "Crux Mihi Dux", short for "Crux Sit Mihi Dux" (''May the Holy Cross be my guide''). The Saint Benedict Medal is embellished by four scallop shells and flanked by two high flowering plants. Elsewhere, a stone engraved with the date "Anno 1722" is embedded above a door in the barn wall. At the end of the

Old Regime Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

, the site covered ha. It was sold as "nationalised property" by the French authorities on 26 January 1798,Okgni, Revue du cercle d'histoire, d'archéologie et de généalogie d'Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, n° 83, mars 2018, and had multiple owners before becoming Ernest Solvay's property in 1893. His heirs inherited the domain and then sold it to the Boël family. Ferme du Biéreau - Grange 04.JPG, Ferme du Biéreau - Corps de logis 14.JPG,

Integration into the university town of Louvain-la-Neuve

In 1969, the Boël family sold the farm to the Université catholique de Louvain. The farm stopped its agricultural activities in 1972, but the residents stayed until they were expropriated in 1977. It was then owned by the municipality of

. When the city was created in 1972, the plans provided for the different farms of

to be devoted to arts: Blocry Farm ( French: ''Ferme du Blocry'') was chosen for theatre and now houses the Jean Vilar Theatre ( French: ''l'Atelier théâtral Jean Vilar'') while the Biéreau Farm was chosen for music.

Classification

Some of the farm buildings have been listed as built heritage since 27 December 1988: facades, roofs and their structures in the south-west part of the farm as well as its

and the entire barn, except for the pigsties flanking the barn on the farmyard side. The farm is listed on the "Inventory of the immovable cultural heritage in the

Walloon Region Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

" ( French: ''Inventaire du patrimoine culturel immobilier de la Région wallonne'') with reference number 25121-INV-0030-02.

Home for all musical genres

As stated above, Biéreau Farm is now a cultural centre dedicated to music, mostly known under the name "Home for all musical genres" ( French: ''Maison de toutes les musiques''),Brochure des journées du patrimoine 2018 de la Région wallonne, p. 31.Bulletin communal d'Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, n° 221, octobre-novembre 2019, p. 37. It's open to a great diversity of styles : world music,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, classical music, ''French variété'',

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, spiritual music. Lots of concerts take place in the concert hall, which is in the barn. There are also festivals, like the musical festival for kids called "Kidzik, the festival for little ears" ( French: ''Kidzik, le festival des petits oreilles'') which is organized every year in August. The musical middays called "Midzik" and musicology courses from the University of the Elderly ( French: ''Université des Aînés''). The entrance and ticket office are installed in the restored stables.

Public art around the Biereau Farm

In the small park between the farm and Avenue du Jardin Botanique there is an artwork called ''Concerto in blue'' ( French: ''Concerto en bleu''), made in 2001. Jocelyne Aubin is the artist behind this piece made of 50 stone blocks. Upon one of those blocks, there is a

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

of a bow and sheet music.''L'art dans la ville - Promenades à Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve'', Presses universitaires de Louvain, 2009, p. 24. For this piece, the Breton artist, who in 1992 set up her workshop in the old forge of Biéreau Farm, was inspired by the legend of the fairy Melusine Belgique - Louvain-la-Neuve - Concerto en bleu - 02.jpg, Belgique - Louvain-la-Neuve - Concerto en bleu - 03.jpg,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biereau Farm Buildings and structures in Walloon Brabant Cultural centers in Europe 12th-century establishments in Belgium 1972 disestablishments in Belgium 1988 establishments in Belgium Université catholique de Louvain