Third day in Brussels and The Wandelgek still had not been bored one second of this town. So much to see, so much to experience, so much to learn and what a great choice it had been to follow in th footsteps of Schuiten for this journey. The Wandelgek felt he already (this actually happened every occassion when visiting Brussels) rediscovered a new Brussels, of which he had learned a lot of new locations and historic facts. It was his 3rd visit to the town in which architecture had been a leading topic. When he visited Brussels for the very first time long ago with his parents and younger brother, he thought it was a beautiful town (this was a brief visit to the area around the Great Market), but later he revisited after having seen Gent, Bruges and Antwerp and he still loved the Great Market, which was probably the most beautiful square in the Low Lands and probably in Europe and maybe in the World (although Registan in Samarkand was really beatiful too and the large square in Isfahan seems to be a real stunner too, so I’m not completely sure yet), he now thought a lot less of the city around, which to him seemed to be a ramshackle of all sorts of architecture, old and modern, just put together in a random pile of buildings.

But he kept returning to Brussels many times more and the city began to grow upon him. It still was a total chaos of styles and it felt as if it had been ruptured in several locations, torn apart and glued together again, but he had been rereading his collection of The Obscure Cities books and now he saw things he recognized from his visits to Brussels. When visiting the town again, he began to see things from the books and the chaos began to make more sense.

On this next walk, The Wandelgek decided to start in the upper town and then in the next blogpost (Walk 5) go down to the city center and the vaulted Zenne River, following it for a while and trying to find out more about Brussels history and of course see whether there are locations connected to the work of François Schuiten.

After a quick shower and Breakfast, The Wandelgek had his obligatory cappuccino at Liberty Square.

Then he started his walk, not using the metro, but on foot this time. He walked through the neighborhood of the hotel, which belonged to the upper town, toward the Grote Zavel.

Here’s a map of the 1st part of the walk through the upper town :

The Upper town

The Wandelgek started at the Onderrichtstraat and walked via the Kanselstraat and IJzeren kruis to the Treurenbergstraat.

The Scorpio (by Marini and Desberg) at Treurenberg 14 (behind Saint Gudula).

The Scorpio is a Belgian comics series written by Belgian screenwriter Stephen Desberg and illustrated by Italian artist Enrico Marini, published by Dargaud. Marini is credited as co-author of the story for the December 2014 installment, The Ninth Family (no. 11). In 2016, it was announced that the series would be discontinued due to disagreements between the authors. Marini and Desberg could not agree on the direction of the main character.

In 2019, a twelfth volume was published, which is also the last volume illustrated by Marini. Luigi Critone will subsequently become the new artist.

Then he followed the Kanselarijstraat to the Ravensteinstraat.

At the Ravensteinstraat he admired the rounded shapes of the modern architecture of the BNP Paribas Bank office, already preluding the rainbow colors of the Brussels pride parade, which was today …

The rainbow flag was hoisted next to that of the EU thus making it clear that the EU was stepping up for all its citizens without exception…

The Kunstberg

This area was also known as the Kunstberg (Mont des Arts) because of its many facilities in support of the Arts.

Paleis der Schone Kunsten

Near the bank, following Ravensteinstraat, at number 23 was a beautiful art nouveau building designed by Victor Horta, which housed the Bozar or the Paleis der Schone Kunsten. In it are now exhibition rooms, concert rooms, meeting rooms and administrative offices. A film museum has its own entrance at the Baron Hortastraat. The building was realized at the start of the 20th century and devoted to give space and opportunity to all forms of art like music, movie, art (sculpturing, painting) and dance …

The exterior was fabulous, but the interior even topped that with loads of art deco influenced details. A lot of the public spaces are free of charge …

Next, The Wandelgek walked passed its neighbour, the Hotel van Cleve-Ravenstein which was almost like a miniature castle.

… well not so miniature after all …

Then he left the Ravensteinstraat and turned left into the Hofberg, meanwhile seeing some really cool shopping windows, …

… then walking to the Koningsplein.

Music Instruments Museum

Here was the Music Instruments Museum in a wonderful art nouveau building, which used to be the Old England store.

Het Muziekinstrumentenmuseum (MIM) is het vierde departement van de Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis. Het is een muziekinstrumentenmuseum ondergebracht in het voormalige warenhuis “Old England“, aan de Hofbergstraat in het centrum van Brussel. Het museum is internationaal bekend en bezit meer dan 8000 instrumenten.

This museum’s collection provides a glimpse into Belgian musical history (including Brussels’ role in recorder production in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Belgium as the homeland of instrument maker Adolphe Sax), European musical traditions, and non-European musical instruments. The museum boasts a collection of approximately 10,000 instruments, 1,200 of which are on display. Mechanical instruments are displayed in the basement, traditional instruments are housed on the ground floor, the development of modern orchestral instruments can be studied on the first floor, and keyboard and string instruments can be viewed on the second floor. Visitors are provided with headphones during their visit, allowing them to listen to approximately 200 musical excerpts.

The museum is known to possess the only example of the Luthéal, an instrument used by Maurice Ravel. It also owns the Rottenburgh alto recorder, instruments invented by Adolphe Sax, and a unique Chinese stone chime. Jean Warland’s double bass, acquired in 2016 by the King Baudouin Foundation’s Heritage Fund, is preserved in the museum.

Het “Old England”-warenhuis is een art-nouveaugebouw aan de Hofberg in Brussel, ontworpen door de architect Paul Saintenoy en ingenieur E. Wyhovski.

Het warenhuis van de Britse firma werd gebouwd in 1899 als uitbreiding van het bestaande filiaal in het voormalige Hotel Spangen. Voor die tijd was het erg vooruitstrevend door het gebruik van een gietijzeren en stalen constructie en veel glas. Hierdoor werd de lichtinval optimaal benut. De vloeren in gewapend beton waren slechts 8 cm dik en rustten op een rooster van ijzeren balken die zelf gedragen werden door slanke kruisvormige kolommen van gesmeed ijzer. Kenmerkend is ook de mooie hoektoren. Voor de bouw werd 250 ton staal gebruikt uit de Forges de Clabecq en 700 vierkante meter spiegels. Er werden friezen in faïence aangebracht en vele florale motieven. Julien Dillens maakte de sculpturen.

De firma Old England verliet het gebouw in 1972. In 1978 werd het door de staat aangekocht om het te gebruiken als museum, maar de restauratie startte pas in 1989. Sinds 2000 is het Muziekinstrumentenmuseum (MIM) gevestigd in het gebouw. Daarbij kan de bezoeker op het dakterras genieten van het uitzicht op de Brusselse benedenstad.

There is a collection mechanical instruments:

The piano was based on earlier technological innovations in keyboard instruments. The earliest known keyboard instrument was the Ancient Greek hydraulis, a type of pipe organ invented in the third century BC. Pipe organs had been used since antiquity, and as such the development of pipe organs enabled instrument builders to learn about creating keyboard mechanisms for sounding pitches. The first string instruments with struck strings were the hammered dulcimers, which were introduced in the Middle Ages in Europe. During the Middle Ages, there were several attempts at creating stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings. By the 17th century, the mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well developed. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are mechanically plucked by quills when the performer depresses the key. Centuries of work on the mechanism of the harpsichord in particular had shown instrument builders the most effective ways to construct the case, soundboard, bridge, and mechanical action for a keyboard intended to sound strings.

The English word piano is a shortened form of the Italian pianoforte, derived from gravecembalo col piano e forte (“harpsichord with soft and loud”). Variations in volume (loudness) are produced in response to the pianist’s touch (pressure on the keys): the greater the pressure, the greater the force of the hammer hitting the strings and the louder the sound produced and the stronger the attack. Invented in 1700, the fortepiano was the second keyboard instrument (in addition to the clavichord which predates it) to allow gradations of volume and tone according to how forcefully or softly the player presses or strikes the keys, unlike the pipe organ and harpsichord.

The old clavicords were very beautifully decorated too…

… as were the harpsichords…

Next were organs and accordeons:

The rooms where the instruments were exhibited were really beautiful …

There was a collection electrical instruments too, but I didn’t photograph those.

The staircases between the floors were quite intricately designed. As a matter of fact, the whole building breathed art nouveau and art deco elements and Horta’s influence on Paul Saintenoy could be felt …

There is a collection traditional instruments from all over the world:

Going up to the top floor, via beautifully decorated staircases, …

… The Wandelgek arrived at the restaurant from where the views over the old town of Brussels were magnificent. The panorama of this city is fascinating and mysterious at the same time. A ground floor of densely packed roofs, above which towers and a few monuments protrude. The dome of the Palace of Justice, the South Tower, the spire of the Town Hall, the Atomium… the eye jumps here and there.

People who were going to see or who took part in the pride march of Brussels that afternoon, were gathering …

After a cup of cappuccino, The Wandelgek left this awesome museum.

Opposite of its entrance was another interesting museum and although The Wandelgek decided not to visit this because of the rest of his walk and because of the excellent weather, he did have a good look at its garden. This was the René Magritte Museum. More about him later, but for now …

The shapes of the neatly trimmed hedges were all stages in shaping Magritte’s man with the bowler …

Magritte’s work frequently displays a collection of ordinary objects in an unusual context, giving new meanings to familiar things.

The use of objects as other than what they seem is typified in his painting, The Treachery of Images (La trahison des images), which shows a pipe that looks as though it is a model for a tobacco store advertisement. Magritte painted below the pipe “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe“), which seems a contradiction, but is actually true: the painting is not a pipe, it is an image of a pipe. It does not “satisfy emotionally”; when Magritte was once asked about this image, he replied that of course it was not a pipe—just try to fill it with tobacco.

Next, The Wandelgek started to descend toward the lower city …

He walked back through the Hofberg downhill of the Kunstberg (Mont des Arts), crossing the Albertinaplein …

Festivities were every were and there was a jolly overall mood …

The Carillon of the Mont des Arts

Before entering the Kunstberg (Mont des Arts), there is this huge clock which is named the Beiaard. The Carillon of the Mont des Arts is a carillon located on the rear facade of the Dynasty Palace on the Mont des Arts in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The carillon was built as part of the buildings erected on the Mont des Arts for Expo 58 and is situated in an arcade at the top of the Mont des Arts Street.

Small recesses depict twelve figures, characters from Brussels history and folklore. They rotate to the sounds of the chimes, which consist of 24 bells. A bronze figure (a jacquemart) at the very top of the arcade strikes the hour.

The characters depicted are:

12 o’clock: The Worker
1 o’clock: The Gaul
2 o’clock: Godfrey of Bouillon
3 o’clock: Jacob van Artevelde
4 o’clock: Philip the Good
5 o’clock: Emperor Charles V
6 o’clock: Peter Paul Rubens
7 o’clock: Egmont
8 o’clock: The Warrior of 1790 (stolen and replaced)
9 o’clock: Jean-Joseph Charlier with the wooden leg
10 o’clock: The Congolese tam-tom player
11 o’clock: The Soldier of 1914-1918
On top of the building: The citizen of Brussels

Again this has been a quite destructive building project in Brussels and it had two phases which were both rather destructive.

1. Destruction of the Saint-Roch/Sint-Rochus Quarter in 1897–98 to make space for the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg:2.

… and this was again changed into this:

… which, although it does have a certain beauty and of course is very instrumental in its support of the beaux arts, is a blasphemy compared to the original situation.

There are details of great beauty to be found even here though and the human mind that does not know the original situation can be quite impressed by the new situation …

After arriving at the Albertinaplein, The wandelgek entered the small green park at the Magdalenasteenweg and sat down on a park bench for a lunch and a drink… 

The next part of the walk is in the lower town and the next blogpost will proceed there.