Academia Belgica
The Academia Belgica is a Belgian research institution based in Rome .
On the occasion of the wedding of Marie José of Belgium to the Italian Crown Prince Umberto in 1930, the connection between the two royal families and states was to find expression in a Belgian cultural institute in Italy. In 1930 the Academia Belgica was founded, to which the Istituto storico belga di Roma (“Belgian Historical Institute of Rome”) , which had existed since 1902, and the newly established “Princess Marie José Foundation” were affiliated. One of the driving forces behind the establishment of the institution was the Belgian classical archaeologist Franz Cumont .
In 1939, the Academia was inaugurated in Via Omero 8 in Rome. She moved into a new building that the architects Gino Cipriani and Jean Hendrickx had built on the edge of the Villa Borghese park . The premises of the Academia , which were structurally adapted to the changed needs in 1997 and between 2002 and 2007, are used to stay and look after artists, researchers and scholarship holders.
The attached library specializes in the subjects of history, art history, religious and literary history. It goes back to the donation of his library by Franz Cumont, who bequeathed around 15,000 books and offprints to the Academia in 1947. In 1953 the collection of the historian Henri Pirenne was added. In the 1960s, the “Princess Marie José Foundation” was also able to acquire the library from Pierre Bautier (1881–1962), director of the Royal Museums for Art and History in Brussels . Today the library comprises around 80,000 volumes.
The Academia Belgica is in principle open to Belgian researchers and artists from all disciplines. It organizes exhibitions, concerts, colloquiums and seminars. She also conducts her own archaeological research, such as the important excavations in Alba Fucens , which were discovered in 1949 by the Belgian archaeologist and then director of the Academia , Fernand De Visscher . In addition, there are excavations in Herdonia, Apulia, near today's Ordona, by Jozef Mertens , director of the Academia from 1988 to 1993 .
Directors
- Jules Vannerus (1939-1940)
- Fernand De Visscher (1945–1949)
- Fernand Vercauteren (1949-1954)
- William Lameere (1954-1959)
- Charles Verlinden (1959-1977)
- Jan Arthur Van Houtte (1977-1983)
- Louis Godart (1983-1988)
- Jozef Mertens (1988–1993)
- Jacqueline Hamesse (1993-2003)
- Walter Geerts (2003–2012)
- Wouter Bracke (2012-2018)
- Sabine van Sprang (since 2019)
Web links
- Academia Belgica website (accessed August 12, 2020)
- History of Academia Belgica on their website (accessed August 12, 2020)
- Directors of Academia Belgica on their website (accessed August 12, 2020)
Coordinates: 41 ° 54 ′ 58.5 " N , 12 ° 28 ′ 45" E