Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert

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Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert

The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (Dutch: Sint-Hubertusgalerij , also Koninginnegalerij or Galerie de la Reine ) is a shopping mall in Brussels . The arcade, opened in 1847, together with the arcade in Saint Petersburg (opened in 1848) and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (opened in 1867) had a major influence on the later design of shopping arcades.

description

The 213 meter long structure consists of a long corridor with two upper floors under a slightly curved glass roof in a cast iron frame. In the passage, pilasters separate the shop windows of individual shops. The entire building is in an Italianized Cinquecento style. The two uniform facades are vaguely reminiscent of Giorgio Vasari's narrow street-like courtyard in the Florentine Uffizi and show the motto Omnibus omnia ( Everything for everyone ).

The idea goes back to the Dutch architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar , born in 1811 , who had set himself the goal of crossing the densely built and poorly lit inner-city section of Brussels between the Grasmarkt ( Marché aux Herbes ) and the Kruidtuinberg ( Montagne aux Herbes Potagères ) through a street to replace and thus to lure higher social classes to the area.

Together with the banker Jean-André Demot, he founded the "Société des Galeries Saint-Hubert" in the summer of 1836, but the two needed another nine years to clear all property and residential rights in the area. Construction began on May 6, 1846 and lasted until June 20, 1847, when King Leopold I opened the passage with his sons.

Right from the start, the passage attracted numerous luxury shops that gave Brussels the flair of a European metropolis. In its well-lit interior, it was possible to sit in street cafes even in Brussels' rainy maritime climate. On March 1st, 1896, the Lumière brothers showed their first films here.

Picture gallery

Passage du Nord

Another, but smaller and later built shopping arcade is the Passage du Nord , built in 1874 ( → Lage ). The approximately 70 m passage is architecturally similar to its bigger sister , the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert.

Web links

Commons : Galeries royales Saint-Hubert  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 49.6 "  N , 4 ° 21 ′ 11.6"  E