Mont des Arts

The area of the Mont des Arts knew different affectations over the centuries. Jews settled there until the 14th century. Later, it used to be a densely populated neighbourhood, the Quartier Saint-Roch/Sint-Rochuswijk, centred around Rue des Trois-Têtes/Driehoofdenstraat. Between the 15th and the 18th century, the hill above it was known as the Montagne de la Cour/Hofberg. Only a small section of Rue Montagne de la Cour now remains below the Place Royale/Koningsplein.[1]

By the end of the 19th century, King Leopold II had the idea to convert the site into an arts' quarter and bought the whole neighbourhood. Various architects and urban planners were called upon to draw plans of the buildings which were to accommodate all kinds of cultural institutions. In the meantime, the then-mayor of the City of Brussels, Charles Buls, had laid out a modest plan for the Saint-Roch district. His urbanistic and aesthetic conceptions were totally opposed to those of Leopold II. The burgomaster wanted to preserve as much as possible of the old district, whilst the king imagined grandiose projects for his capital. Very isolated, Buls was not followed by the municipal council which voted for the king's project on 19 November 1894. Sickened, Buls resigned five years later.[2][3]

The Mont des Arts in the 1920s showing Vacherot's garden

After the demolition of the old buildings in 1897–98, the site turned into an urban void because the project lacked sufficient finance. To increase the area's appeal during the Brussels International Exposition of 1910, the king ordered the French landscape architect Pierre Vacherot to design a "temporary" garden on the hill. It featured a park and a monumental staircase with cascading fountains and terraces descending the gentle slope from the Place Royale down to Boulevard de l'Empereur/Keizerslaan.[1] In 1910, a year after the death of Leopold II, the new park was inaugurated by his successor, King Albert I.

Although the garden was conceived as temporary, it became a well-appreciated green area in the heart of the capital, but when the plans for the Mont des Arts came back by the end of the 1930s, this park had to be demolished to create a new square as the centre of the urban renewal project. The project was entrusted jointly to the architects Maurice Houyoux and Jules Ghobert. Between 1956 and 1958, the park and its surroundings gave way to massive, severe geometric structures such as the Royal Royal Library of Belgium and the Congress Palace (now the Square – Brussels Meeting Centre). The new geometric garden was designed by the landscape architect René Péchère and built upon the concrete slab covering the Albertine car park.[1] The inauguration took place in 1969.