The Bortier Gallery (french: Galerie Bortier, nl, Bortiergalerij) is a glazed shopping

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. It was designed by

Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar (1811–1880) was a Belgian architect. He is the father of the Cluysenaar family. Family He was born in Kampen in the Netherlands as a son of Joannes Kluysenaar and Garidenia Kluysenaar, a Dutch family of archite ...

in 1847, in a

neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

style, and opened in the following year. As well as being one of the first European shopping arcades, it is a fine example of the joint use of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

and glass. The gallery is situated in the centre of the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...

, between the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg and the Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brussels' main square), and not far from the more monumental Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries. It is owned by the City of Brussels and is managed by its Land Administration services. This site is served by

Brussels Central Station Brussels Central Station (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Central, nl, Station Brussel-Centraal), officially Brussels-Central (french: Bruxelles-Central, link=no, nl, Brussel-Centraal, link=no), is a railway and metro station in central Brussels, B ...

on lines 1 and 5 of the

Brussels Metro The Brussels Metro (french: Métro de Bruxelles, nl, Brusselse metro) is a rapid transit system serving a large part of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It consists of four conventional metro lines and three ''premetro'' lines. The me ...

History

Early history

Originally, the gallery was a part of the / complex, a covered market also designed by the architect

. The facade on the /, in a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style, antedates the construction of the gallery behind it. This front dates from 1763 and was recovered from the Hôtel des Grandes Messageries, a town house situated on that site. The gallery owes its name to an investor named Pierre Bortier, who had acquired land between the / and the /, made available by the demolition of the former /. He proposed to the Brussels' authorities to build the /. This covered market had its main entrance on the Rue Duquesnoy. Starting from the Hôtel des Grandes Messageries, located on the Rue de la Madeleine, the gallery passed along the rounded southern end of the market hall on the level of its first floor, and ended on the Rue Saint-Jean.

20th and 21st centuries

The Madeleine market was demolished in 1957 and replaced by a modern event hall, leaving only the original facade in place. The Bortier Gallery was thus detached from the market building. Very degraded, it was renovated in 1974 and again around 2010. The place is now well known to lovers of literature and old books, being almost entirely occupied, with the exception of an art gallery, with stalls and second-hand booksellers.

Jean-Baptiste Moens Jean-Baptiste Philippe Constant Moens (27 May 1833, Tournai – 28 April 1908) was a Belgium, Belgian philatelist recognized as the first stamp dealer, dealer in stamps for collectors. He was one of the original philatelic literature, philatelic j ...

, known as the father of

philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is poss ...

, ran a shop in the Bortier Gallery from 1853 onwards.

Gallery

File:Bortiergalerij.jpg, Facade on the / File:Bruxelles rue de la Madeleine 55 1100.jpg, Detail of the facade File:Bruxelles galerie Bortier 902.jpg, Interior File:Bruxelles galerie Bortier 1102.jpg, Bookshop

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Bortier Gallery on www.ebru.be

{{Shopping malls in the Benelux Shopping malls in Brussels City of Brussels Commercial buildings completed in 1847 1847 establishments in Belgium