As part of the Art Nouveau year 2023, Brussels is digitally opening the iconic Stoclet Palace villa along the Avenue de Tervueren to the public in the context of Belgium's Presidency of the Council of the European Union, announced State Secretary for Urban Planning and Heritage Ans Persoons.
The official opening of the STOCLET 1911 RESTITUTION exhibition took place on Wednesday in the Art and History Museum, following on from an exhibition on the Palace's designer, Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann. The building is considered his magnum opus.
"I am particularly pleased that an agreement has been reached so that this scientific 3D reconstruction by urban.brussels and the ULB can be included in the exhibition about architect Josef Hoffmann," said Persoons.
The Stoclet Palace is a luxurious building on Avenue de Tervueren in the Brussels municipality of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. Banker and art collector Adolphe Stoclet commissioned it from Hoffmann, who was given free rein to design it. It was built from 1906 to 1911.
Inside of Stoclet Palace. Credit: Ans Persoons' office
"For the first time in history, the general public can discover what the Stoclet Palace looked like from the inside," she said. "This is an important step in our efforts to make the exceptional heritage of our region accessible to everyone."
In concrete terms, the exhibition – which runs until 14 April 2024 – and the digital reconstruction in video form aim to allow visitors to discover the interiors of the Stoclet Palace, which has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2009 but never been opened to the general public.
Discovering the inside
After Anny Stoclet, the daughter-in-law of the original client, died in 2002, the villa became vacant. The house is still the private property of the Stoclet family and therefore cannot be viewed freely.
"We know what the Stoclet Palace looks like from the outside, but now you can also discover the inside," Persoons said on social media.
The virtual reconstruction of this palace – which is based on public archival sources and a detailed architectural analysis of the spaces – took a team of experts almost two years to complete. The façade of this spectacular palace is completely covered in marble, there is a tower with bronze statues and artist Gustav Klimt made the wall friezes of the dining room.
The realism enhances the impression that visitors are immersed in the original state of the building, between 1911 and 1918. For the first time, this is a unique opportunity to discover the palace as Suzanne Stevens and Adolphe Stoclet had dreamed it, and to welcome their guests for the duration of this exhibition.
"World Heritage belongs to everyone," Brussels MP and former State Secretary for Heritage Pascal Smet said on social media. "This beautiful exhibition shows that the interior of Palais Stoclet should be admired in real life (at least a few days a year)."
The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between urban.brussels, ULB - Faculté d'Architecture La Cambre, and the Museum of Art and History. It was set up in the context of Brussels' 2023 Art Nouveau year and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which starts in January.
