It’s a bit commonplace, but nowadays it’s raining rather a lot in Brussels. When it’s not raining, I like to take a walk and observe the buildings.

I have a tendency to believe what I hear, because for the moment everything is new for me here. But what I am sure of is that Brussels isn’t just the capital of Europe, but also of Art Nouveau.

Each building has a history and tells you something about the period in which it was built. This is just as true for the blocks of flats as for the baroque castles. The several hundred remaining Art Nouveau buildings are remnants of a period that brought eminent intellectual and financial richness to the country, and especially to Brussels. At the turn of the century, the entire city changed thanks to the industrial revolution. The population grew exponentially and entrepreneurs and artists flocked to the city by the hundreds. A rich and modern city was in the making. The newly rich bankers, industries and entrepreneurs wished to live in buildings which reflected not only their status in society, but also the innovating spirit and the dynamism of the period in which they lived.

The stairwell of the Horta Museum

Victor Horta, a Belgian architect, made this wish come true. He conceived homes that were practical but also beautiful, spacious, and luminous. Typical of his style were the narrow and long plots of land, for which Horta designed buildings where the stairwells were situated under glass roofs, thus increasing the amount of light that permeated the building. The colorful glass tiles used for the dome also bathed the rooms in warm colors. The typical materials used for constructing Art Nouveau buildings are ceramic, glass and cast-iron. Also characteristic of these buildings were the plants which twisted around abstractly, symbolizing progress, growth, and dynamism.

Victor Horta’s own house in Saint-Gilles can still be visited today and because of the period furnishings, I had the chance to take a little trip back in time when I was there. Even if you don’t really like the Art Nouveau style, and even if you’re not well-versed in architecture, the Horta Museum is still worth a visit (but only in the afternoon – the museum is only open from Tuesday to Sunday, but only from 2 PM – you really cannot go inside in the morning).

There are many Art Nouveau buildings in the city and I am sure that most people notice them. There is the Café Cirio (1886) next to the stock exchange building (La Bourse). There is also the Old England department store in the heart of the city, and in its vicinity you can also find the BOZAR Museum of Fine Arts built according to plans made by Victor Horta. The Hotel Solvay and four other Brussels hotels, which today are part of world heritage, are also built in the Art Nouveau style, as well as the Horta Pavilon near the Cinquantenaire Parc. The Comic Strip Museum, which used to be a textile factory, was also designed by Horta. The district of Ixelles became part of Brussels around the turn of the century and is also quite rich in Art Nouveau style buildings.


The ARAU proposes a three-hour tour of Brussels, concentrating on the Art Nouveau buildings of the city. You can find further information here (További információt itt olvashatunk). If the sun is shining, then you should really go downtown, because there are lots of things to discover!

Katalin Marton
1 June 2009