Léon-Pierre Suys (; ; (14 June 1823 – 5 May 1887) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

architect. Suys's father

Tilman-François Suys Tilman-François Suys (in French) or Tieleman Frans Suys (in Dutch) (1 July 1783 – 22 July 1864) was a Belgian architect who also worked in the Netherlands. Biography Suys completed his architectural education in Paris, where he studied u ...

was the architect of King Leopold I, and the cofounder of the Belgian Royal Commission of Sites and Monuments, of which his friend

François-Joseph Navez François-Joseph Navez (16 November 1787 – 12 October 1869) was a Belgian neo-classical painter. Biography Navez was born in Charleroi. He was a pupil of Jacques-Louis David. He spent five years in Italy between 1817 and 1822. Between 183 ...

was also a member. Navez often used the young Léon as a model for his paintings, including ''Jeune garçon songeur'' (1831) and ''Léon Suys et ses deux sœurs''. Léon Suys was the author, in 1865, of the plans to cover and divert the Senne (Zenne) river in

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 ...

, a defining event in the history of the city. As part of this, he designed the modern courses of Brussels' central boulevards, and several monumental public buildings related to the project, including the former

Brussels Stock Exchange The Brussels Stock Exchange (french: Bourse de Bruxelles, nl, Beurs van Brussel), abbreviated to BSE, was founded in Brussels, Belgium, by decree of Napoleon in 1801. In 2002, the BSE merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon and Paris stock exchang ...

building, the Great Central Halls (demolished in 1956), and the reconstruction of the Greater Sluice Gate at the south of the city. He also designed the buildings of the thermal baths in

Spa, Belgium Spa (; wa, Spå) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium, whose name became an eponym for mineral baths with supposed curative properties. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountains south ...

, built between 1862 and 1868. Suys is buried in

Laeken Cemetery Laeken Cemetery (french: Cimetière de Laeken, nl, Begraafplaats van Laken) in Brussels, Belgium, is the city's oldest cemetery still in function and the resting place of the Belgian Royal Family. It is known as the ''Belgian Père Lachais ...

Literature

* Anne VAN LOO, ''L'haussmannisation de Bruxelles : la construction des boulevards du centre, 1865-1880'', in: Revue de l'Art, 1994 * Herman STYNEN, ''De onvoltooid verleden tijd. Een geschiedenis van de monumenten- en landschapszorg in België 1835-1940'', Brussel, 1998

External links

Léon Suys et ses deux sœurs, par Navez
1823 births 1887 deaths Flemish architects Burials at Laeken Cemetery 19th-century Belgian architects {{Belgium-bio-stub