The VUB Rectorate – Renaat Braem’s Magnum Opus
- Durée :
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Type
-
- Group tours
- Meeting point :
Rectorat de la VUB
Under the canopy of the main entrance
Boulevard de la Plaine 2
1050 Ixelles
Belgium
| Groups | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Group tours: | 190 € (week) - 210 € (weekend) | Book for a group |
|
venue fee included
|
||
The VUB Rectorate building is a remarkable work by the Antwerp-based modernist architect and artist Renaat Braem (1910–2001).
It is regarded as a ‘total work of art’ as it was conceived, designed and decorated by the architect himself between 1971 and 1978. Renaat Braem designed all the furniture and personally painted the incredible fresco depicting the human epic that spans the entire central core across all six floors. Renaat Braem chose the oblong elliptical shape, which he regarded “as nature’s primary form: the path of atoms around the nucleus, the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.” Since 1976, the monument has symbolised the VUB’s philosophy of openness and tolerance, with free research as its guiding principle. Listed since 2007, the renovation of this building, carried out by Origin Architecture & Engineering – a colossal project which began in 2018 and is due to be completed in 2024 – has restored the open spaces as originally conceived by the architect, as well as the magnificent entrance hall.
