Search results

Immediately after Belgian independence, Brussels' new role as the capital of the kingdom required it to erect a large number of public edifices necessary for the proper running of the country. Most of these monuments were decorated with sculptures representing the arts, industry, and commerce, then rapidly expanding. This decorative aspect also spilled over onto the facades of simple buildings, which the Dutch period had purified to the point of plainness. But Belgium was not yet a hundred years old when progress in everything very quickly rendered earlier architectural choices obsolete. Artistic taste too had evolved. Demolished with few scruples to make way for more rational buildings without exterior decoration, stations, post offices, market halls and even a large number of private houses were demolished and the sculptures adorning them in most cases dispersed to parks and public spaces. Others were simply abandoned to demolition gangs and their fate remains uncertain.
This article sets out to trace these sculptures, certain of them designed by artists fleeing from the glory of the 19th century. and commerce, then rapidly expanding. This decorative aspect also spilled over onto the facades of simple buildings, which the Dutch period had purified to the point of plainness. But Belgium was not yet a hundred years old when progress in everything very quickly rendered earlier architectural choices obsolete. Artistic taste too had evolved. Demolished with few scruples to make way for more rational buildings without exterior decoration, stations, post offices, market halls and even a large number of private houses were demolished and the sculptures adorning them in most cases dispersed to parks and public spaces. Others were simply abandoned to demolition gangs and their fate remains uncertain.
This article sets out to trace these sculptures, certain of them designed by artists fleeing from the glory of the 19th century.