Warandepark

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The Warandepark in winter
Entrance to Warandepark or Brussels Park

The Warandepark or Royal Park of Brussels (in English Brussels Park , Dutch Park van Brussel, de Warande or Koninklijk Park , French Parc de Bruxelles or Parc Royal ) is the second largest and with 13 hectares after the Jubelpark (30 hectares) together with the latter one of the most important inner-city parks in the Belgian capital, Brussels .

History of origin

Historically, today's park is the green remnant of an urban wildlife garden that formerly belonged to the ducal castle Koudenberg , to a certain extent a feudal hunting amusement park of the Dukes of Brabant .

Archduke Albrecht together with his wife Archduchess Isabella and her entourage while strolling in the Warande , the ducal zoo. In the background you can still see the old palace on the Koudenberg , which burned down a good century later. The oil painting by Jan Brueghel d. Ä. was created between 1609 and 1621.

These medieval hunting gardens were called "Warande" in the southern and northern Netherlands. There are still squares or quarters bearing this name in many cities in Flanders and the Netherlands. The Duke of Brabant kept deer, wild boar and the like in this game reserve. However, there was also a smaller ornamental garden directly at the castle.

This idyll came to an abrupt end, however, when the castle on the Koudenberg burned down almost completely in the night of February 3rd to 4th, 1731 and was never rebuilt afterwards. The adjacent park was also affected by the fire. Due to a lack of money, the ruined condition of the area should not change in the next 40 years.

It was not until 1775 that Empress Maria Theresa suggested starting a new park at the expense of the city of Brussels. After tough negotiations, it was agreed in 1776 that the city of Brussels would level the area for the new park and create the three adjacent streets, namely the Koningsstraat, the Brabantstraat (now Wetstraat) and the Hertogstraat. The government then wanted to take over the construction of the actual park. A total of 1218 trees then had to be felled in order to create space for the planned leveling of the ground, because the park area was originally much more hilly than it is today to the visitor. But soon after its completion, the first destruction occurred during the French Revolution when sans-culottes toppled the Roman imperial busts from their pedestals. During the Belgian Revolution , Dutch troops then bivouacked in the park.

The park was last completely renovated in 2001, but a few trees had to be felled again.

Big fountain

Current condition

On the edge of the rectangular park there are, among other things, important buildings such as the Royal Palace and the Palace of the Academies (with KVAB , ARB and RASAB ) in the south, the parliament building opposite in the north , the US embassy in the east and other facilities in the west Banking and government. The park is delimited to the west by Koningsstraat / Rue Royale , to the north by Wetstraat / Rue de la Loi , to the east by Hertogstraat / Rue Ducale and to the south by Palästeplatz . The metro station Park is on the corner of Koningsstraat and Wetstraat and in the south-west of the park, on the corner of Koningsstraat and Palästeplatz, you come across the art that has existed in this form since 2002 and goes back to the Musée des Beaux-Arts / Museum voor schone kunsten . and Bozar Event Center , which attracts many visitors.

Inside the park is the Royal Park Theater in the northeast corner . Furthermore, open-air concerts are held regularly in the Warandepark during the summer months.

The park is freely accessible around the clock. Access is restricted or the park is completely closed only in the event of storm warnings and major events taking place nearby.

Web links

photos

  • The Warandepark kiosk

  • Federal Parliament building at the north entrance of the Warandepark in Brussels

  • View from the Parliament building to the north entrance and the large fountain of the park

  • View from the Great Fountain of the Parliament building at the north entrance of the park

  • Embassy of the United States (center) on the east side of the park

  • Royal Palace at the south entrance of the park

proof

  1. ↑ wat is een warande? from: "Het edele vermaak. De jacht in de Spaanse Nederlanden onder de Aartshertogen. (Philippe Liesenborghs)" at: ethesis.net (Dutch)
  2. ↑ History and description of the district around Warandepark: vlaamsparlement.be (in Dutch; PDF; 1.7 MB)

Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 40.6 ″  N , 4 ° 21 ′ 49.3 ″  E