Cinquantenaire

The Jubilee Park ( Dutch) or Park of the 50th Anniversary (French: " Parc du Cinquantenaire " ) is located approximately one mile east of Warandeparks ( Parc de Bruxelles / Brussel van park ) in the Belgian capital Brussels. It covers an area of ​​37 ha and is especially in summer a popular place for recreation for the Brussels. Also in recreational runners he is popular because it not only invites you to a good 2 km long, leading him past the outside path, but also to many of the park intersecting paths for sporting activities away from the traffic.

History

1880 Belgium celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence. On this occasion, King Leopold II wanted to host a World's Fair in Brussels. For this purpose, a former military training area was selected outside the city center. The new park with its imposing buildings should demonstrate the prosperity of Belgium in the world. During the Second World War, the park area was used for the cultivation of food.

Structures

The most visible monument is the triumphal arch illustrate the great history of Brussels and also should serve as the entrance to the park for visitors who entered it from the east. The sheet of Belgian granite was planned for the Universal Exhibition of 1880, but was not completed until much later, after it had come about in a violent confrontation between the king and the government because the government is not so much for a useless in their eyes building money was going to spend. Only through private lenders ( ultimately by the private property of the king) was the triumphal arch to be completed in 1905 - just in time for the 75th anniversary of Belgian independence.

The bow is decorated with a Quadriga, symbolizing the province of Brabant. The other Belgian provinces are represented by allegorical statues at the foot of the columns. On both sides of the sheet in columns galleries are 1920-1932 prepared mosaics that evoke the ' peace-loving Belgian nation '. The approximately 50 -meter-high arch provides for the Quadriga like a mixture between the Brandenburg Gate and Paris' Arc de Triomphe. In good weather, a good part of the largest of the three arches through a narrow passage Belgian national flag is required.

On both sides of the triumphal arch ever is a large exhibition hall, which replaced the original pavilions and exhibition halls of the Exhibition of 1880. These two halls that can be viewed as architectural monuments themselves already, now house museums: In the southern hall, the Auto World Museum is a large vintage car collection. In the northern Hall Military Museum Musée Royal de l' Armée is housed, among other things, the historical as well as contemporary fighter aircraft shows.

The built by the architect Jules Bordiau Bordiau halls had become in time the only building completed in 1880 for the exhibition. You are a construction of steel and glass, which is typical of the late 19th century. After the end of the exhibition museums were housed here also. The southern hall was destroyed by fire in 1946. In the after -made, not in proper style building now houses the Brussels Royal Museums of Art and History.