Conscious capital beautification: axial intervention in Brussels

The largest city of Brabant became the new capital of Belgium in 1830 after the split of the post-Napoleonic United Netherlands. Brussels was a certain choice as an important historic city centrally located within the Dutch speaking part of the young Belgian State but importantly with a strong ruling class of francophones. As the largest city within the historic Duchy of Brabant, Brussels was a large fortified city, although it had plenty of space within its defences at the time it became the new capital of Belgium. This old city was characterised by the often winding streets and alleys. The new king Leopold I (a German Prince by birth) ordained the beautification of his new capital and in 1831 work started on dismantling the walls and earthworks. The former glacis was transformed into an ample boulevard for carriages lined with 4 rows of trees. The area within is henceforth known as the Pentagon (Vijfhoek in Dutch).

Modelled on Paris, new roads were cut through the medieval clutter of streets and buildings from about 1850 onwards. The old city already boasted an axial intervention dating back to 1777 when the Rue Royal was laid out along the edge of the park of the Brussels Residence. The park was also remodelled and replanted. Across from the residence a Government building for the Brabant Council is erected between 1779-1783. Across from the new Warande Park (a warande is a small hunting park for pheasants, fallow deer and other small animals) the Dutch King William I has a new palace erected in 1820 not far from the site of the former palace of Koudenberg that had been destroyed by fire in 1731. After the independence of Belgium the old Council building is appropriated as the new parliament building known as the Palace of the Nation located on what is henceforth known as Law Street. The new King of the Belgians moved into the purpose-built palace that was expanded in 1877 to double its original size.

The first axial interventions beyond the Warande Park are located outside of the grand ring of boulevards. In 1837 work starts on the Leopold Quarter, a grid based high-status suburb directly east of the old city that is modelled on German examples in Dusseldorf, Berlin and Munich. The gridlines tie in with the layout of the Warande Park. In 1847 the Avenue Louise was built linking the city with the Forest of Cambre. In 1853 the Avenue along the Warande Park is extended beyond the Ring of Boulevards towards a new church. Along this extension the so-called Column of Congress is erected in 1859. Also within the old city, a large part of the Marollen Neighbourhood is demolished from 1860 onwards to create space for the enormous Palace of Justice on Gallow Hill. The building and the axis linking it to the Place Royal are completed between 1867 and 1883. Between 1868 an 1871 the Zenne river was culverted within the Pentagon and a new boulevard was built over it: the Boulevard Anspach that cuts through the medieval streets of the oldest urban core of Brussels.

The oldest axial interventions within the old city centre around the Warande Park (a) To the north of this formal park the parliament building (1) is located, opposite the royal palace (3). The first formal axis starts at the Place Royal (2) with the classicist complex of the Constitutional Court and the Church of St Jacob on the Mount.The Rue Royal continues from the park along the Column (4) and the Botanique, a botanical garden (5) to end at the church of St Mary (6).Directly east of the Warande Park lies the Leopold Quarter (b) with a (former) station building (c) at the end of the lowest street.

Behind the Leopold Quarter a large eponymous park was built between 1851 and 1854. Further north a high-class neighbourhood, inspired by London's Garden Squares, was built north of the Leopold Quarter between 1856 and 1872. Like the Leopold Quarter the axis lead from nothing to nowhere and are therefore not really axes but rather formal street plans that tie into the pre-existing pattern of streets and rural lanes.

Most axial intervention in Brussels are based on the 1862 plan of Victor Besme for the beatification of the capital city. The crown prince was very taken by his ideas. Thus in 1864 a plan for the creation of the Avenue Leopold II is passed by the city council. The idea was to expand the city across the Koekelberg Plateau west of the city. The axis that runs off the northern Boulevard is the central axis of this so-called Leopold II Quarter. Several imposing buildings were planned at the cusp of this axis: a Royal Villa (1864), a Palace of Industry (1866) and a National Pantheon (1879). None of these where built, instead the large Art Deco Church of the Sacred Heart was built in the elevated park from 1905 onwards.

To commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Belgian Independence in 1880, Leopold II orders the creation of a large Jubilee Park along a new formal avenue that was an extension of the important Law Street (Rue de la Loi) that runs between the parliament and the Warande Park. The terrain had been used for the manoeuvres of the City Guards. As part of the jubilation festivities a National Exhibition was staged in the new park with two large exhibition buildings designed by Gédeon Bordiau. Due to the enormous success of this exhibition, the park is enlarged and hosts the World Exhibitions of 1888 and 1897. It is with the 1888 International Contest for Sciences and Industry that the park becomes known as Jubilee Park. IN 1905 a large Triumphal Arch is built linking the two exhibition buildings. The structure with 3 arches is crowned by a statue of Brabantia in a quadriga and spans the central axis. As the point de vue of a secondary axis the large Mosque was built in a corner of the park in 1879.

The axial interventions after Besme are a continuation of earlier interventions that are seldom formalised with a beginning or end. One of the most contested axial intervention connects the Place Royal (a) with the Palace of Justice (2) via the Rue de la Régance (1) a formal street. The Avenue Louise (b) is both a beautiful street with trees as well as an improvement of traffic structure. The Leopold Park (c) is located on an extended formal street off the Leopold Quarter. North of this the extended Rue de la Loi (d) forms the central axis of the formal Jubilee Park with the exhibition halls (3) and the mosque (4).The Quartier des Squares (e) centres on the Square Ambiorix. Within the oldest parts of the city the Boulevard Anspach (f) lies over the covered Zenne river. It connects to the Boulevard Emile Jacqmain that leads to the Boulevard Albert II (h). Around the Gare du Midi a formal street - Boulevard du Stalingrad (g) - forms the centre of the Quartier Rouppe. The Grand Ensemble on the Koekelberg was inspired by Mont Martre. The central axis of Avenue Leopold II (i) is a continuation of the northern Boulevard d'Anvers and culminates in the large church in the Elizabeth Park (5). With the starlike formal streets that radiate out from this central point du vue this ensemble is known as Leopold II Quarter (j).

The area between the Leopoldpark and the Jubilee Park was developed as the centre of the European Union after WW2 and has changed dramatically with the addition of large office buildings that are places rather haphazardly within the older urban fabric.