Botanique

This vast building, which was intended to host the collections of a previous botanical garden, was built between 1826 and 1829. The artist and decorator Pierre-François Gineste supervised the works, carried out according to simplified plans by the architect Tilman François Suys.

Respecting the traditional structure of orangeries, he designed an imposing central rotunda with a cupola, flanked by two wings, each finished off with a slightly protruding pavilion. In addition to the glass walls which complete the intercolumnations of the rotunda and cover the portico delimited by this same colonnade, are the greenhouses built against the lateral wings. The building’s initial function easily explains the omnipresence of bays with a metal chassis. Very early on, it was decided to organise parties in this wonderful place and a large room was arranged to this effect between the oriental orangery and the rotunda, but it would become the salle des herbiers (herbarium room) in 1870. Until 1939, it fulfilled functions close to its original vocation, but it gradually fell into disrepair. Bought up by the State in 1970, the premises finally became the Centre culturel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (Wallonia-Brussels Federation Cultural Centre), inaugurated in 1984. Nowadays it hosts many cultural events, which represent all different disciplines of contemporary arts, and the festivals which take place here, such as the famous Nuits du Botanique, have contributed to its reputation.