Square De L'Aviation

The (French) or (Dutch), meaning "Aviation Square", is a square in the Anderlecht municipality of Brussels, Belgium. The Study and Documentation Centre for War and Contemporary Society (Cegesoma or CegeSoma) is located on this square.

The Square de l'Aviation is bounded to the east by the / and extended, to the west, by the / on the odd side and the / on the even side. The angle of the two streets forms a cutaway. This area is served by Brussels-South railway station.

History

The Square de l'Aviation was created by virtue of a royal decree issued on 19 October 1909, on the site of the former Royal School of Veterinary Medicine (now moved to Liège). The school's former site, relocated to the /, was acquired in 1892 by the municipality of Anderlecht, which drew up development plans for it from 1895. These plans consisted of a square open to the Small Ring (Brussels' inner ring road), from which two diagonal streets began, creating a triangular island with the /.

Prizes were planned for the most beautiful façades that would be erected within six years on land sold by the municipality in the district of the former Veterinary School. In practice, however, only part of the plots were built before the First World War. The new arteries were lined with tall and often wide buildings, mostly housing shops on the ground floor and housing on the upper floors. Now called ''Le Triangle'', the district is largely occupied by companies active in the clothing industry.

The square consists of four to six-storey buildings. The first ones were designed, between 1910 and 1913, in eclectic and Beaux-Arts styles. In 1911, the ''La Prévoyance Sociale'' building was established in the axis of the square. In the 1920s, the plots that had remained untouched were filled with buildings most often in the Beaux-Arts style tinged with Art Deco. Several buildings were converted into a hotel in the 2000s.

From the outset, the square was embellished with a triangular parterre on the boulevard's side, which in 1924 welcomed the Monument to the Showmen who died for the Fatherland. In 2005–06, the space was redesigned as a pedestrian area, with the exception of the western end, where a carriageway connects the Rue Lambert Crickx and the Rue de l'Autonomie. The narrow part of the square now houses a fountain.

Notable buildings

The Square de l'Aviation is home to an important architectural heritage:
* ''La Prévoyance Sociale'' (1912–1927), original Art Nouveau office building by , modernist extension and interior redesign (1931–32) by and Maxime Brunfaut. It is now home to the Study and Documentation Centre for War and Contemporary Society (Cegesoma or CegeSoma), a historical research institute and archive focussing on the Second World War and the contemporary history of Belgium
* the Monument to the Showmen who died for the Fatherland (1924) by and , initially commemorating the 28 showmen who died for Belgium during WW1, to which the names of thirty new victims were added after WW2. In 2003, the monument, in poor condition, was restored and the white marble statue replaced by a copy. The restored original is now in the Municipal Hall.
* No. 23–27: Hotel resulting from the transformation, in the 2000s, of two buildings erected in 1913: a Beaux-Arts style house designed (no. 23) and an eclectic apartment building with Art Nouveau accents (no. 25–27)

File:Anderlecht-Luchtvaartsquare.jpg, The Square de l'Aviation in 2017, following pedestrianisation
File:Cegesoma.JPG, ''La Prévoyance Sociale'' building (Pringiers, 1912–1927 and Brunfaut, 1931–32)
File:Brussels, La Prevoyance Sociale, relief.jpg, Detail of the ''La Prévoyance Sociale'' building
File:Anderlecht, Monument "Aux forains morts glorieusement pour la patrie".jpg, Monument to the Showmen who died for the Fatherland (Voets, 1924)

See also

* Art Nouveau in Brussels
* Art Deco in Brussels
* History of Brussels
* Belgium in the long nineteenth century

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Square de l'Aviation/Luchtvaartsquare (Anderlecht)

Squares in Brussels
Anderlecht
Protected heritage sites in Brussels