The Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries are an ensemble of glazed shopping arcades in central Brussels, Belgium. Designed and built by architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer between 1846 and 1847, they precede other famous 19th-century European shopping arcades such as the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan and The Passage in St Petersburg. Like them, they have twin regular facades with distant origins in Vasari's long narrow street-like courtyard of the Uffizi in Florence, with glazed arched shopfronts separated by pilasters and two upper floors, all in an ItalianateCinquecento style, under an arched glass-paned roof with a delicate cast-iron framework.
History
The galleries were designed by the young architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer, who determined to sweep away a warren of ill-lit alleyways between Rue du Marché aux Herbes/Grasmarkt and Rue Montagne aux Herbes Potagères/Warmoesberg and replace a sordid space where the bourgeoisie scarcely ventured into with a covered shopping arcade more than in length. His idea, conceived in 1836, was finally authorised in February 1845. The partnership Société des Galeries Saint-Hubert, in which the banker Jean-André Demot took an interest, was established by the summer, but nine years were required to disentangle all the property rights, assembled by rights of eminent domain, during a process that caused one property owner to die of a stroke and a barber, it was said, slit his throat as the adjacent house came down. Construction started on 6 May 1846. It lasted for 18 months, and the passage was inaugurated on 20 June 1847 by King Leopold and his two sons. In 1845, the Société named the three sections of the new passage the Galerie du Roi/Koningsgalerij, the Galerie de la Reine/Koninginnegalerij and the Galerie des Princes/Prinsengalerij. The ensemble, called the Passage Saint-Hubert has borne its present name since 1965. Under its motto Omnibus omnia, displayed in the fronton of its palace-like facade, the Saint-Hubert Passage attracted people of fashion. Brilliantly lit, it offered the luxury of outdoor cafés in Brussels' inclement climate, in an ambiance of luxury retailers that brought to Brussels the true feel of a European capital. In the premises of La Chronique daily newspaper, on 1 March 1896, the first public showing of moving pictures took place of the cinematographers Lumière, fresh from their initial triumph in Paris. A theatre inside the galleries, the Théâtre des Galeries Saint-Hubert, was designed by Cluysenaer and opened 7 June 1847. It became one of three royal theaters of Brussels, playing operetta and revues. Its interior was rebuilt in 1951. In 2008, the Royal Galleries were submitted for World Heritage inscription and are included in UNESCO's "Tentative List" in the cultural heritage category. Nowadays, the King's Gallery is home to the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts and honours the greatest men and women of art, history, music, the humanities and science.
Architecture
The galleries consist of two major sections, each more than in length, and a smaller side gallery. The main sections are separated by a colonnade at the point where Rue des Bouchers/Beenhouwersstraat crosses the gallery complex. At this point, there is a discontinuity in the straight perspective of the galleries. This "bend" was introduced purposefully in order to make the long perspective of the galleries, with its repetition of arches, pilasters and windows, less tedious.
