Travel - Special Destinations: La Monnaie in Brussels

In November 2021, I visited "La Monnaie" a famous opera house in central Brussels. This place even had an important place in the history of Belgium. So, let's take a look at the amazing history of this wonderful opera house.

La Monnaie outside own picture taken in November 2021

History

The first permanent public theatre for opera performances of the court and City of Brussels was built between 1695 and 1700 by the Venetian architects Paolo and Pietro Bezzi, as part of a rebuilding plan following the bombardment of Brussels of 1695 by the French army of King Louis XIV.

It was erected on the site of a building which had served to mint coins. The name of this site—La Monnaie (originally spelled La Monnoye) in French or De Munt in Dutch (both meaning "The Mint")—remained attached to the theatre for the centuries to come. The construction of the theatre had been ordered by Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, at that time Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. The Elector had charged his treasurer and architect, the Italian Gio Paolo Bombarda, with the task of financing and supervising the enterprise.

La Monnaie the amazing ceiling

own picture taken in November 2021

By the 18th century, La Monnaie was considered the second French-speaking stage after the most prominent theatres in Paris. Under the rule of Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, who acted as a very generous patron of the arts, the theatre greatly flourished. At that time, it housed an opera company, a ballet and an orchestra. The splendour of the performances diminished during the
last years of the Austrian rule, due to the severe politics of the Austrian Emperor Joseph II.

After 1795, when the French revolutionary forces occupied the Belgian provinces, the theatre became a French departmental institution. Amongst other cuts in its expenses, the theatre had to abolish its Corps de Ballet. During this period, many famous French actors and singers gave regular performances in the theatre whilst touring the provinces of the Empire. 

Still a consul, Napoleon, on his visit to Brussels, judged the old theatre too dilapidated for one of the most prestigious cities of his Empire. He ordered plans to replace the old building with a new and more monumental edifice, but nothing was done during the Napoleonic rule.

 

Finally, the plans were carried out under the auspices of the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands and Bombarda's building was demolished in 1818.

The old theatre was replaced by a new neoclassical building designed by the French architect Louis Damesme. Unlike Bombarda's building, which was situated along the street and completely surrounded by other buildings, the new theatre was placed in the middle of a newly constructed square. This gave it a more monumental appearance, but it was primarily the result of safety concerns since it was more accessible to firemen, reducing the chance that fire would spread to surrounding buildings. The new auditorium was inaugurated on 25 May 1819 with the opera La Caravane du Caire by the Belgian composer André Ernest Modeste Grétry.

As the most important French theatre of the newly established United Kingdom of the Netherlands, La Monnaie had national and international significance. The theatre came under the supervision of the City of Brussels, which had the right to appoint a director charged with its management. In this period,
famous actors like François-Joseph Talma and singers like Maria Malibran performed at La Monnaie. The Corps de Ballet was reintroduced and came under the supervision of the dancer and choreographer Jean-Antoine Petipa, father of the famous Marius Petipa.

The royal lodge

Belgium revolution

La Monnaie would play a prominent role in the formation of the Kingdom of Belgium. Daniel Auber's opera La Muette de Portici was scheduled in August 1830 after it had been banned from the stage by
King William I of the Netherlands, fearing its inciting content.

 

At a performance of this opera on the evening of 25 August 1830, a riot broke out which became the signal for the Belgian Revolution and which led to Belgian independence.

After the revolution

Damesme's building continued to serve for more than two decades as Belgium's principal theatre and opera house until it burnt to the ground on 21 January 1855, leaving only the outside walls and portico.

After the fire of January 1855, the theatre was reconstructed after the designs of Joseph Poelaert within a period of fourteen months.

The auditorium (with 1,200 seats) and the foyer were decorated in a then-popular Eclectic style; a mixture of neo-Baroque, neo-Rococo and neo-Renaissance styles.

The original dome painting, representing "Belgium Protecting the Arts", was painted in the Parisian workshop of François-Joseph Nolau (Paris, 1804–1883) and Auguste Alfred Rubé (Paris, 1815–1899), two famous decorators of the Paris Opera House. In 1887, this dome painting was completely repainted by Rubé himself and his new associate Philippe-Marie Chaperon (Paris, 1826–1907), because it was mostly tainted by the CO2 emissions from the chandelier.  

This dome painting stayed untouched until 1985, when it was taken down during extensive rebuilding activities and replaced by a bad copy, painted by the Belgian painter Xavier Crolls. From 1988 until 1998, the dome painting of Rubé and Chaperon was in restoration, until its final reinstatement in 1999.

The sober whitewashed exterior we see today was done many decades later. Poelaert never intended to whitewash these outer walls. In 1856, the exterior did not have any whitewashing at all, as proved by many photographs of that time.

La Monnaie entrance hall in November 2021

The new Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie opened on 25 March 1856 with Fromental Halévy’s Jaguarita l'Indienne. 

Renovations on Poelaert's building were required shortly after opening due to faulty foundation work. The early 20th century saw an additional story added, and in the 1950s, a new stage building was added. 

By 1985, it was determined that complete renovation was needed. Features such as raising the roofline by 4 metres (13 feet) and scooping out the stage building area—in addition to creating a steel frame to strengthen the load-bearing walls and increasing backstage space—characterised this two-year project.

The entrance hall and the grand staircase underwent a radical makeover, although original features such as the monument by Belgian sculptor Paul Du Bois honouring manager and Music Director Dupont (1910), and a number of monumental paintings (1907–1933) by Emile Fabry were preserved.

La Monnaie entrance hall

 

The Liège architect Charles Vandenhove created a new architectural concept for the entrance in 1985–1986. He asked two American artists to make a contribution: Sol LeWitt designed a fan-shaped floor in black and white marble, while Sam Francis painted a triptych mounted to the ceiling. Vandenhove also designed a new interior decoration for the Salon Royal, a reception room connected to the Royal Box. For this project he collaborated with the French artist Daniel Buren. Now seating 1,125, the renovated opera house was inaugurated on 12 November 1986 with a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

In 1998, the major part of the vacant Vanderborght Department Store building (c. 20,000 m2 (220,000 sq ft)) and a neoclassical mansion, both situated directly behind the opera house, were acquired by La Monnaie. The edifices were renovated and adapted to house La Monnaie's technical  and administrative facilities, previously spread all over the city. The building also contains large rehearsal halls for opera, the Malibran, and orchestra, the Fiocco. They can also be adapted for presenting public performances.

La Monnaie behind the scenes

In the last three decades, La Monnaie has reclaimed its place amongst the foremost opera houses in Europe thanks to the efforts of the successive directors Gerard Mortier and Bernard Foccroulle and Music Directors Sylvain Cambreling and Antonio Pappano.

The opera house was renovated again from May 2015 to September 2017; the stage was levelled, a new fly system was put in place and two scene lifts were installed. This allowed the opera house to stage more technically-demanding productions. Although most of the renovations took place backstage, the opera house used this opportunity to replace all of its worn out seats with new velour seats.

Conclusion

It was a wonderful visit and well worth the money for the guide. I saw lots of amazing things and I liked the ceilings and the places behind the scene as well. I also feeled the history and the royal connection of La Monnaie, the opera house in Brussels.

 

Source pictures: pictures from the Monnaie I took in November 2021

Source pictures royals: Wikipedia