Le Botanique 7 Day Weather Forecast

Attractions in Brussels, Belgium .

The saying goes that ‘true value does not need the test of time’. And yet! The love affair between Brussels and the Botanique is not one that was born yesterday… and their complicity was not always all beer and skittles… Read on and be the judge… Good old Victor Hugo, who sung of Waterloo, morne plaine (Waterloo, gloomy plain) before writing his admirable masterpiece Les Misérables in Brussels, once declared, ever the fine, enlightened...

Rue Royale 236
Brussels
Belgium
1210

022183732

The saying goes that ‘true value does not need the test of time’. And yet! The love affair between Brussels and the Botanique is not one that was born yesterday… and their complicity was not always all beer and skittles… Read on and be the judge… Good old Victor Hugo, who sung of Waterloo, morne plaine (Waterloo, gloomy plain) before writing his admirable masterpiece Les Misérables in Brussels, once declared, ever the fine, enlightened connoisseur: ‘Brussels possesses two unique wonders of the world, its Grand-Place and the panorama of the Jardin Botanique’.

Although the Grand-Place has managed to preserve its place and perimeter at the heart of a city that is increasingly astride a provincial, unpretentious and endearing aspect and American-style metropolitan extravagance, the panorama of the Botanique has unfortunately long lived. It withers as the city has invaded and trampled it. Worse still, it died as buildings were erected and as the boulevards confined it to a second role of green space, suffocating at the heart of inextricable crossroads.

Surviving these disasters, the Good Old Botanique never shed its loveliest attire: its green lawns and the glass walls that we still marvel at, as yesteryear the hearts of our elders missed a beat as they gazed upon it. On the inside, the Botanique is no longer what it was. Is it merely a question of vocabulary? Is there any difference between its original culture –Belgian chicory, the witloof was invented there– and the culture it defends today?

Indeed, it feels as if a ghost of merry knowledge protects it.

From 1823 to 1939, the Botanique was a haven for science and botanical studies. The building made do without governance for roughly forty years before being reconverted into a space for culture and imagination fifty years later when, on 23 January 1984, it became the cultural centre for the French Community of Belgium. Bull’s eye: for the past twenty-five years, it has successfully completed its mission. What conclusions should we draw? From the diversity of disciplines exploited in its early days, the Botanique is ever-increasingly dedicated to musical discoveries and art demonstrations. Better still, since the explosion of its activities in the past fifteen years, it boasts the title of one of Belgium’s most visited and active cultural centres.

Let’s put the cards on the table. Today, the Botanique represents each year:

• More than 280 concerts

• Around 10 art exhibitions and activities, 30% of which focus on photography, today’s leading medium

• 100.000 tickets issued

• May’s Nuits Botanique: more than 60 concerts and 110 artists over ten days

• 560 artists all disciplines confounded, around 35% of whom are from Belgium, mostly from Wallonia and Brussels