Flemish Renaissance Revival

Abstract

The Flemish Renaissance Revival is a style developing around the middle of the XIXth century in the newly created Belgium, in pursuit of identity. The movement draws its inspiration from the Golden Age of Flanders during the Renaissance which had a strong architectural identity. The style started in Antwerp where it became really popular and rapidly spread to Brussels. The pavilion presented for the International Exposition of Paris in 1878 embodied this national style. Despite all of this, the style did not manage to become widely used in the whole country and even less in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of the country. How did a style that was intended to be national and represent the whole nation is now a symbol of Flemish separatism? Through examining contemporary and modern sources on the subject, the Flemish Revival will be explored with an architectural but also social and political approach. The historical, social, political and linguistic situation implies the division between the communities since the creation of the country. The lack of representation and the sense of belonging from a part of the population and the rise of the Flamingant movement at the same period influenced the Flemish Revival’s tracks. The style stayed restrained to a small Flamingant, liberal and bourgeois part of the population and is now seen as the Flemish style, as its name implies, without representing the whole country