Bellevue museum

The Bellevue Hotel

In 1776, at the time of the installation of the Royal Place, more than forty years after the terrible fire which destroyed the palate of the dukes of the Brabant, Philippe De Proft , wine merchant makes build, vis-a-vis the Parc of Brussels, with the angle of the street of Beautiful sight (future place of the Palates) a hotel of prestige intended to accommodate customers fortunée.
Among the first hosts of mark of the hotel appear of noble French, of which the count d' Artois (future Charles X) and other family members royal, in escape after the revolution of 1789. In 1795, the hotel located Royale place behind Bellevue is repurchased and joined to the ensemble.
The family De Proft will exploit the hotel until in 1862, sold, it will keep her function until in 1905. With the first cabins of the combat of the Belgian Revolution of 1830, it will be strongly damaged, its repairing will take more than one year. The list of the famous customers that the hotel accommodated during nearly 130 years is interminable, among them: Honore de Balzac, Adolphe Thiers, Franz Liszt, the king Edouard VII of England, the emperor Guillaume Ier of Germany, the emperor Alexandre II of Russia, the empress Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III), the emperor of Brazil, kings of Italy Umberto Ier and Victor-Emmanuel III, kings of Sweden, of Spain, of Denmark, Ulysses Grant, James de Rothschild, Sarah Bernhardt, and well of autres.
In 1905, the king Léopold II makes repurchase Bellevue to connect it to the palate of which it projects the transformation. It plans to make of it to the residence of his daughter junior the Clémentine princess. A house and a gallery are built between the palate and the old hotel. The rooms are transformed into living rooms. One installs a monumental staircase, the running water with the bathrooms and electricity. The unit will be finished only in 1909.
The Bellevue hotel will be used for the royal family until in 1934. The duke and the duchess of the Brabant, future king Léopold III and queen Astrid move in there for four years in 1926, the prince will keep there his offices until his crowning in 1934. It is with the Bellevue Hotel that in 1927 their oldest daughter the princess Joséphine-Charlotte was born, future large-duchess of Luxembourg.

During forty years following, the building will be used only occasionally. To take delivery of the gifts with the victims of the economic crisis in 1935, by the the Red Cross, during the floods of 1953, or like housing of transit for the repatriates of the Congo, at the time of its accession to independence in 1960.

The Bellevue museum

In 1977, the building becomes for the first time a museum, it is entirely transformed to answer this new function. The royal Museums of art and history expose to it collections of pieces of furniture and porcelain of the 18th century. The Musée of the Dynasty will settle on the second floor in 1992.
After the departure of MRAH in 1998, the buildings accommodate the Mémorial King Baudouin . An atrium and a large canopy giving on the park of the royal palace are arranged.

In 2000, are carried out the accesses in basement towards the archaeological vestiges of the Ancien palates of Coudenberg released by excavations carried out in several stages, of which the last countryside by the Royal Société of Archeology of Brussels in collaboration with the Universit3e libre de Bruxelles.

At the time of the 175e birthday of independence, it is decided to transform the place into a new museum of history of Belgium. After a complete refitting, the Musée BELvue opens its doors in July 2005. Twelve rooms are devoted there to the great periods of the history of the country, presented through original historical documents and of audio-visual testimonys.

Internal bonds

External bonds

Site of the museum
Foundation King Baudouin

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