Three Notable Restorations

When Antwerp was named ‘Cultural Capital of Europe 1993’, plans for a number of long-awaited restorations were pushed ahead. Suddenly there were the financial resources and the political will to set to work on a number of monuments. In the summer of 1993 many millions of tourists were able to admire the completed phase in the restoration of the cathedral. The central station, a nineteenth-century railway cathedral, was also thoroughly renovated. But the most crucial decision was to completely restore the nineteenth-century Bourla theatre, which had stood empty for many years, and to reintegrate it into Antwerp's cultural infrastructure.

This theatre is one of the few European buildings which bears the name of its architect. In 1819 the Parisian Pierre Bourla became Antwerp's city architect and in 1827, when the Netherlands and Belgium were still united under Dutch rule, he was commissioned to design the Théatre Royal Français, which was not officially opened until 1834. The freestanding building is of austere construction and is made up of two sections; an angular structure containing the auditorium and a semi-circular entrance hall with a massive foyer on the first floor. The auditorium is of the Italian type, with tiers of balconies one above the other.

For the interior, Bourla called in the French interior designers Humanité-René-Philastre and Charles Cambon, who had already made a name for themselves with theatre interiors in Strasbourg and Bordeaux.

In the 1960s a new theatre with great technical and scenic potential was built in the vicinity of the Bourla. The new building took over from the Bourla, which




stood deserted for years. However, the people of Antwerp continued to love the Bourla, particularly since the new building looked so aggressive and awkward. From time to time there was talk of demolishing the Bourla, but luckily the tide turned.

The restoration included the installation of completely new stage machinery, though the unique original wooden machinery was retained because of its industrial-archaeological importance. In the entrance hall, architects De Winter and Van Hunsel have brilliantly incorporated a painting by the Antwerp artist Jan van Riet. The Bourla is now becoming the principal venue for theatre and ballet productions, especially since the other building is being remodelled to accommodate a wide range of events.

It is not only Antwerp and Brussels that possess a rich operatic and theatrical heritage; Ghent does too. Operatic performances took place there as early as the seventeenth century, and in 1698 the new municipal theatre near the Kouter opened its doors with Lully's opera Thésée. In 1835 the Ghent city council decided to build a new Grand Théâtre, virtually on the same site. This building was to be the visual expression of the wealth acquired by the bourgeoisie. The design was entrusted to the city architect Louis Roelandt, one of Belgium's most prominent neoclassical architects of the first half of the nineteenth century.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Ghent Opera is the way it is designed to fit into its urban surroundings. Most theatres and opera houses in Europe were freestanding constructions, inserted into the fabric of the city in such a way as to make them an autonomous artefact of the modern city, but it was decided that this was not to be the case with the Ghent Opera. Instead of four facades, it has only two: a pronounced front facade and a rear facade; the same basic design as a city dwelling. This unusual construction makes for a unique ground-plan. The opera complex is L-shaped and, in addition to the actual auditorium on the first floor, has a sequence of three richly-decorated

halls: a foyer, an oval ballroom and a rectangular concert hall. The aim of Ghent's civic authorities was to build not just an opera house but a complete cultural infrastructure for the city, where concerts and festivities could also be held.

The U-shaped auditorium is surrounded by five galleries with balconies. Here Roelandt opted for a spatial design which was popular at the time. It is not only the interior decoration which gives the building a French feeling, but also the fact that the galleries are not divided into boxes, as in the so-called Italian style. For the interior, Roelandt called upon the French interior designers who had worked on the Bourla theatre. The rich polychrome decoration, with its abundance of gold leaf and stucco work, and the monumental chandelier, make this one of Europe's most beautiful auditoriums.

As was the case with the Bourla theatre, the authorities neglected for many years to modernise the technical infrastructure. The totally antiquated equipment of the Ghent Opera became more and more of a handicap. When, at the beginning of 1989, the civic authorities decided to close the Opera for safety reasons, the Flemish Opera Foundation (vlos - Vlaamse Opera Stichting) was confronted with an acute renovation problem. The task of the vlos, established in 1988, is to draw up a new common policy for the opera houses of Ghent and Antwerp; a policy concerning both the infrastructure and the organisation of events. Thanks to the efforts of many people, and of the manager Marc Clémeur in particular, the auditorium and technical equipment of the Ghent Opera have been completely renovated, and Flanders now possesses two full-scale




opera complexes. The organisation of cultural events is being approached with a new dynamism which has already earned international praise.

The reopening of the Ghent Opera was officially celebrated on 2 September 1993 with a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony, the Auferstehung. It is to be hoped that the vlos will be able to find the resources for the second phase of restoration, namely that of the neighbouring reception halls and the facade. The target date is 1998, three hundred years after the first performance of Thésêe.

The Royal Dutch Theatre of Ghent was modernised at about the same time as the Opera House. This complex, built in 1897-1898 and designed by the architect Edmond de Vigne, lies between the Cathedral of St Bavo and the Belfry. This, like the Opera House, is not a freestanding entity within the fabric of the city. Its only public aspect is the beautiful neo-renaissance facade bearing a large mosaic by Constant Montald, which has been restored to its former splendour. As with the Bourla theatre the covered entrance, originally intended for horse-drawn carriages, has been incorporated into the vestibule. The restoration has greatly improved standards of comfort and safety in the theatre, as well as its technical capabilities; and this thorough-going treatment also involved a completely new layout for the square in front of the theatre.

 

marc dubois

Translated by Yvette Mead.

Further reading

decavele, j., b. doucet, et al., De Opera van Ghent - Het Grand Théâtre van Roelandt, Philastre en Cambon. Tielt, 1993. (Sommaire Français & English Summary)

manderdyck, m., h. van hunsel, et al., De Bourla Schouwburg: een tempel voor de muzen. Tielt, 1993. (Sommaire Français & English Summary)