THE CINQUANTENAIRE IN BRUSSELS AND AUTOWORLD

November 11, 2014

Together with my family we visited the "Autoworld" Exhibition in the Arcade du Cinquantenaire which is a monumental triple arch in the center of the Cinquantenaire park in Brussels. It is topped by a bronze quadriga sculptural group with a woman charioteer, representing Brabant raising the national flag. The sidewalls feature personifications of Belgian provinces: Brabant being represented by the quadriga, East Flanders, West Flanders, Antwerp, Liège, Hainaut, Limburg, Namur and Luxembourg. Twelve spandrels are decorated with allegories of Arts and Industry. This park was created in 1880 and built by King Leopold II to celebrate Belgian's fifty years of independence. Eight statues of women, symbolising the provinces surround it, the two Flanders being represented by a single statue. Inside the building you can visit, the Royal Army and Military History Museum and Autoworld as permanent exhibitions.



The top of the Arcade





The "Cinquantenaire"











and its statues



Looking up the arcade


The aisles are decorated with frescos



On one side you have a wonderful view on the Avenue de Tervueren



and on the other side to Brussels



The Cinquantenaire Arcade is surrounded by a beautiful park, called Park du Cinquantenaire



At the entrance of the Autoworld exhibition an old police car was exposed









We arrived in this enormous hall created by Victor Horta who was a Belgian architect and designer. It is said that he was "undoubtedly the key European Art Nouveau architect." Horta is considered one of the most important names in Art Nouveau architecture.



The stuffed giraffe is momentarily "on holidays" in the Autoworld exhibition, because the African museum is being renovated.



My little grandson was excited to see all these cars and I choose a model which I wished I would have !

overview



There were all kind of cars from the very beginning of the Automobile history









an overview from the second floor



A Royal carriage was also exposed, unfortunately I couldn't find nowhere on the net, when it had been used for the last time !