The Van Buuren Museum and Gardens will undergo a major renovation to mark 100 years of Art Deco in 2025.
This restoration marks the 50th anniversary of the house of patrons David and Alice Van Buuren opening to the public. It also coincides with the centenary of the Art Deco movement in Brussels, according to a press release released by the museum on Monday.
The house was built from 1924 to 1928. David van Buuren was a Jewish-Dutch banker and art collector. When Nazi Germany occupied Belgium in 1940, the couple was forced to flee to the US where they spent the war years in New York. A room in the villa documents the history of the building and the life of the couple.
The house is a renowned Art Deco treasure in the Brussels-Capital Region, located in the municipality of Uccle. It contains unique and rare furniture, carpets, stained glass windows, sculptures and paintings by internationally renowned artists.
Van Buuren Museum and Gardens. Credit: Visit.Brussels /Jean-Paul Remy
To preserve the unique heritage, the house will be renovated with the support of the urban planning department Urban.brussels and Lombard Odier, a private Swiss bank. The restoration plan, by heritage conservation specialist Barbara Van der Wee, aims to prepare the house for the future, with work taking place over several years.
The renovation will include furniture and decorative restorations, such as for textiles, woodwork, varnish and stained glass windows. The plan also involves strengthening and modernising the infrastructure, including improvements to technical installations and restoring artworks within the house.
Two versions of Brueghel's 'Fall of Icarus', at Van Buuren museum on the left and at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts on the right.
Credit: Belga / Coralie Cardon
In addition, the renovation plan includes new facilities aligned with the museum's cultural and educational objectives. There will be a mediation room for lessons and activities, a storage space for paintings and archives and a library and research area for Art Deco specialists. The museum will remain open during the renovations, offering restoration workshops accessible to the public where possible.
