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the endless renovation of the Brussels courthouse

The renovation project of the Brussels courthouse has been going on for 40 years. But the Belgians finally see the end of the tunnel. Authorities have said the scaffolding should be completely removed by the end of 2030.

It’s a never-ending project. Few Brussels residents remember what the courthouse looked like without the scaffolding that has adorned it for four decades. With 40 years of work, Belgium has a poor record, which it intends to forget as quickly as possible.

On the main facade of the listed historic monument, a symbol of Belgian prosperity at the end of the 14th century, the tubes which appeared in 1984 should have disappeared by “the end of 2025”. And the entire metal cage “before 2030”, assured in November the Secretary of State in charge of the file, Mathieu Michel, during a visit to the restoration site of this majestic front facade decorated with sculptures and moldings.

“Leaving 40 years of scaffolding on the largest courthouse in the world was totally unacceptable,” argued the French-speaking liberal.

But the work accomplished over the past year on this titanic project allows us to see the end of the tunnel and the first scaffoldings were finally dismantled this year. “We are responding to our responsibility in the face of a heritage which belongs to all Belgians,” underlined Mathieu Michel.

“The weak link”

Designed by the Belgian architect Joseph Poelaert in the 1860s – at the time when King Leopold II began to exploit the Congo and when Belgium was among the great economic powers – this neo-classical style building has an influence on the floor of 26,000 m2. It is larger than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Topped with a cupola with a copper dome, it is all the more visible in the Brussels sky as it was built on one of the capital's hills. So much time has passed that memories fail to explain why this restoration has stalled.

The company initially commissioned would have gone bankrupt. The file then experienced an incessant ping-pong between the different levels of power (State, Region, city), against a backdrop of bickering between Flemish and French-speaking people.

For lawyer Jean-Pierre Buyle, who launched the Poelaert foundation in 2011 to shake up policies, justice is “the weak link, the unloved link of the three powers”, executive, legislative and judicial.

And this palace has continued to generate “anxiety about the cost” of the work, he explains.

“Here when a ceiling collapses due to humidity problems, we look at the ceiling on the ground, we close the door and we wait two or three years. When it happens in Parliament or the Royal Palace, the after- noon the workers are on the site and we are working,” continues the lawyer.

Interior renovation… by 2040

In 2023, the federal state, owner of the building, and the region, which has jurisdiction over the listed monuments of Brussels, jointly announced the delivery of the planning permit finally allowing the front façade to be tackled, a ” phase 1″ of the work costed at 32 million euros.

For a year, the work has consisted of checking one by one and cleaning the decorative elements overhanging the main entrance to the building. If necessary, the stones are replaced by drawing on the original materials, such as the famous white stone from the French quarries of Comblanchien, in Burgundy.

“A total of 137 m3 of stone has already been replaced, which represents approximately 370 tonnes or 14 trucks,” noted site managers on Thursday.

In May 2024, symbolically, a statue of Minerva – goddess of wisdom – enthroned at the very top of the facade was unveiled after its renovation, an element damaged like most stones by cracks and water infiltration.

After the beautification of the large front facade, on the Place Poelaert side, the objective is to restore those of the base of the dome, from 2026. If the deadline of 2030 is held for the end of the exterior renovations (this is the year of Belgium's bicentenary), it will then be a question of considering the new interior layout… by 2040, according to Jean-Pierre Buyle, because it is necessary “a lot money, a lot of energy and a lot of willpower.

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