1.
Bonnefanten Museum
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The Bonnefanten Museum is a museum of fine art in Maastricht, Netherlands. The museum was founded in 1884 as the historical and archaeological museum of the Dutch province of Limburg, the name Bonnefanten Museum is derived from the French bons enfants, the popular name of a former convent that housed the museum from 1951 until 1978. In 1995, the moved to its present location, a former industrial site named Céramique. The new building was designed by the Italian architect Aldo Rossi, with its rocket-shaped cupola overlooking the river Maas, it is one of Maastrichts most prominent modern buildings. Since 1999, the museum has become exclusively an art museum, the historical and archaeological collections were housed elsewhere. The museum is funded by the province of Limburg. In 2009, the museum celebrated its 125th anniversary with the exhibition Exile on Main Street, in 2012, Stijn Huijts became director. The combination of old art and contemporary art under one roof gives the Bonnefanten Museum its distinctive character, the department of old masters is located on the first floor and displays highlights of early Italian, Flemish and Dutch painting. Exhibited on the floor is the museums extensive collection of Medieval sculpture. The contemporary art collection is exhibited on the floor and focuses on American Minimalism, Italian Arte Povera. The second and third floors are used for temporary exhibitions. Since Alexander van Grevenstein became director in 1986, the Bonnefanten Museum has focused mainly on contemporary art, in 2006, an important long-term loan from the Belgian architect Charles Vandenhove and his wife greatly strengthened the museums collection of postwar art. In 2011, a deal was negotiated between the collectors Jo and Marlies Eyck and the province of Limburg, the result was that the Eyck collection of postwar art and the castle of Wijlre and its grounds, are now part of the museum. Maastricht,1984 Szénássy, I. L. Kunst in het Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht,1984 Szénássy, I. L. Oudheden in het Bonnefantenmuseum. Maastricht,1984 Poel, P. te, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht,2007 Poel, P. te, Bonnefantenmuseum. Maastricht,1958 Wegen, R. van, and T. Quik, Maastricht,1995 Hedge House Official website
Bonnefanten Museum
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Bonnefantenmuseum
Bonnefanten Museum
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Maquette Bonnefantenmuseum
Bonnefanten Museum
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Overview of semi-permanent exhibition of
medieval wood sculptures
Bonnefanten Museum
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Tryptich.
Antwerp (?), 1518.
2.
Brit. Mus
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
Brit. Mus
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British Museum
Brit. Mus
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The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2001 to become the
Great Court, surrounding the original
Reading Room.
Brit. Mus
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Sir
Hans Sloane
Brit. Mus
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Montagu House, c. 1715
3.
Brugae
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Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, the historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval and about 430 hectares in size, the citys total population is 117,073, of whom around 20,000 live in the city centre. The metropolitan area, including the commuter zone, covers an area of 616 km2 and has a total of 255,844 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008. Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam and Stockholm, Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port and was once one of the worlds chief commercial cities. Bruges is well known as the seat of the College of Europe, the name probably derives from the Old Dutch for bridge, brugga. Also compare Middle Dutch brucge, brugge, and modern Dutch bruggehoofd, the form brugghe would be a southern Dutch variant. The Dutch word and the English bridge both derive from Proto-Germanic *brugjō-, Bruges was a location of coastal settlement during prehistory. This Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement is unrelated to medieval city development, in the Bruges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesars conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the region from the Gallo-Romans around the 4th century. The Viking incursions of the century prompted Count Baldwin I of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications, trade soon resumed with England. Bruges received its city charter on 27 July 1128, and new walls and canals were built, in 1089 Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders. Since about 1050, gradual silting had caused the city to lose its access to the sea. A storm in 1134, however, re-established this access, through the creation of a channel at the Zwin. The new sea arm stretched all the way to Damme, a city became the commercial outpost for Bruges. Bruges had a location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade. They developed, or borrowed from Italy, new forms of merchant capitalism, whereby several merchants would share the risks and profits and they employed new forms of economic exchange, including bills of exchange and letters of credit. The city eagerly welcomed foreign traders, most notably the Portuguese traders selling pepper and other spices, the citys entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotlands wool-producing districts
Brugae
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A canal in Bruges with the famous
Belfry in the background
Brugae
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The
Markt ("Market square")
Brugae
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The 'Burg', painted c. 1691 – 1700 by
Meunincxhove
Brugae
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An old street in Bruges, with the
Church of Our Lady tower in the background
4.
Brussels (municipality)
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The City of Brussels is the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region, and the de jure capital of Belgium. The City of Brussels covers most of the Regions centre, as well as northern outskirts where it borders municipalities in Flanders and it is the administrative centre of the European Union. On 1 January 2016, the City of Brussels had a population of 178,552. The total area is 32.61 km2 which gives a density of 5,475 inhabitants per square kilometre. As of 2007, there were approximately 50,000 registered non-Belgians in the City of Brussels, at first, the City of Brussels was simply defined, being the area within the second walls of Brussels, the modern-day small ring. As the city grew, the villages grew as well, eventually growing into a contiguous city. The construction of Avenue Louise was commissioned in 1847 as an avenue bordered by chestnut trees that would allow easy access to the popular recreational area of the Bois de la Cambre. However, fierce resistance to the project was put up by the town of Ixelles through whose land the avenue was supposed to run. After years of negotiations, Brussels finally annexed the narrow band of land needed for the avenue plus the Bois de la Cambre itself in 1864. That decision accounts for the unusual southeastern protrusion of the City of Brussels, the Université Libre de Bruxelles Solbosch campus is also part of the City of Brussels, partially accounting for the bulge in the southeast end. Unlike most of the municipalities in Belgium, the ones located in the Brussels-Capital Region were not merged with others during mergers occurring in 1964,1970, however, a few neighbouring municipalities have been merged into the City of Brussels, including Haren, Laken and Neder-Over-Heembeek in 1921. These comprise the northern bulge in the municipality, to the south-east is also a strip of land along Avenue Louise that was annexed from the Ixelles municipality
Brussels (municipality)
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City of Brussels Ville de Bruxelles Stad Brussel Stadt Brüssel
Brussels (municipality)
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Engraving from c. 1610
5.
's Gravenhage
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The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 520,704 inhabitants and more than one million including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands. The Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands, which constitutionally is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands plans to live at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and numerous other major Dutch companies. The Hague originated around 1230, when Count Floris IV of Holland purchased land alongside a pond, in 1248, his son and successor William II, King of the Romans, decided to extend the residence to a palace, which would later be called the Binnenhof. He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished by his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal and it is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onwards, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative centre, the village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Haga in a charter dating from 1242. In the 15th century, the smarter des Graven hage came into use, literally The Counts Wood, with connotations like The Counts Hedge, s-Gravenhage was officially used for the city from the 17th century onwards. Today, this name is used in some official documents like birth. The city itself uses Den Haag in all its communication and their seat was located in The Hague. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, in 1575, the States of Holland even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William of Orange. From 1588, The Hague also became the seat of the government of the Dutch Republic, in order for the administration to maintain control over city matters, The Hague never received official city status, although it did have many of the privileges normally granted only to cities. In modern administrative law, city rights have no place anymore, only in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, was the settlement granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France, as a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, when the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903, the city sustained heavy damage during World War II
's Gravenhage
's Gravenhage
's Gravenhage
's Gravenhage
6.
Eindhoven
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Eindhoven is a municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence of the Dommel and Gender streams. The Gender was dammed short of the city centre in the 1950s, the city has a population of 223,220 in January 2015, making it the fifth-largest municipality of the Netherlands and the largest in the province of North Brabant. Neighbouring cities and towns include Asten, Son en Breugel, Nuenen, Geldrop-Mierlo, Heeze-Leende, Waalre, Veldhoven, Eersel, Oirschot, the agglomeration has a population of 337,487. The metropolitan area consists of 419,045 inhabitants, the city region has a population of 753,426. Also, Eindhoven is located in the Brabantse Stedenrij, a metropolitan area with about 2 million inhabitants. The name Eindhoven derives from the contraction of the regional words eind, toponymically, eind occurs commonly as a prefix and postfix in local place- and streetnames. A hove comprised a parcel of land which a local lord might lease to private persons, given that a string of such parcels existed around Woensel, the name Eindhoven may have originated with the meaning last hoves on the land of Woensel. The written history of Eindhoven started in 1232, when Duke Hendrik I of Brabant granted city rights to Endehoven, then a small town right on the confluence of the Dommel, at the time of granting of its charter, Eindhoven had approximately 170 houses enclosed by a rampart. Just outside the city stood a small castle. The city was granted the right to organize a weekly market. Another factor in its establishment was its location on the route from Holland to Liège. Around 1388, the fortifications were strengthened further. And between 1413 and 1420, a new castle was built within the city walls, in 1486, Eindhoven was plundered and burned by troops from Guelders. The reconstruction of Eindhoven was finished in 1502, with a stronger rampart, however, in 1543 it fell again, its defense works having been neglected due to poverty. A big fire in 1554 destroyed 75% of the houses but by 1560 these had been rebuilt with the help of William I of Orange, Eindhoven did not become part of the Netherlands until 1629. During the French occupation, Eindhoven suffered again with many of its houses destroyed by the invading forces, Eindhoven remained a minor city after that until the start of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution of the 19th century provided a major growth impulse, canals, roads and railroads were constructed. Industrialization brought population growth to Eindhoven, at the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, Eindhoven had 2,310 inhabitants
Eindhoven
Eindhoven
Eindhoven
Eindhoven
7.
Waarderpolder
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Haarlem is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland and is situated at the edge of the Randstad. Haarlem had a population of 155,758 in 2014 and it is a 15-minute train ride from Amsterdam, and many residents commute to the countrys capital for work. Haarlem was granted city status or stadsrechten in 1245, although the first city walls were not built until 1270, the modern city encompasses the former municipality of Schoten as well as parts that previously belonged to Bloemendaal and Heemstede. Apart from the city, the municipality of Haarlem also includes the part of the village of Spaarndam. Newer sections of Spaarndam lie within the municipality of Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude. The city is located on the river Spaarne, about 20 km west of Amsterdam and it has been the historical centre of the tulip bulb-growing district for centuries and bears the nickname Bloemenstad, for this reason. Haarlem has a history dating back to pre-medieval times, as it lies on a thin strip of land above sea level known as the strandwal. The people on this strip of land struggled against the waters of the North Sea from the west, and the waters of the IJ. Haarlem became wealthy with toll revenues that it collected from ships, however, as shipping became increasingly important economically, the city of Amsterdam became the main Dutch city of North Holland during the Dutch Golden Age. The town of Halfweg became a suburb, and Haarlem became a bedroom community. Nowadays many of them are on the Dutch Heritage register known as Rijksmonuments, the list of Rijksmonuments in Haarlem gives an overview of these per neighbourhood, with the majority in the old city centre. The oldest mentioning of Haarlem dates from the 10th century, the name probably comes from Haarlo-heim. This name is composed of three elements, haar, lo and heim, there is not much dispute about the meaning of lo and heim, in Old Dutch toponyms lo always refers to forest and heim to home or house. Haar, however, has several meanings, one of them corresponding with the location of Haarlem on a sand dune, the name Haarlem or Haarloheim would therefore mean home on a forested dune. There was a stream called De Beek, dug from the peat grounds west of the river Spaarne as a drainage canal, over the centuries the Beek was turned into an underground canal, as the city grew larger and the space was needed for construction. Over time it began to silt up and in the 19th century it was filled in, the location of the village was a good one, by the river Spaarne, and by a major road going south to north. By the 12th century it was a town, and Haarlem became the residence of the Counts of Holland
Waarderpolder
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Grote Kerk ("Great Church") on the Grote Markt, Haarlem's central square
Waarderpolder
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Topographic map image of Haarlem (city), March 2014
Waarderpolder
Waarderpolder
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View of Haarlem, by
Jacob van Ruisdael
8.
Arcades du Cinquantenaire
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Parc du Cinquantenaire or Jubelpark is a large public, urban park in the easternmost part of the European Quarter in Brussels, Belgium. During successive exhibitions in the area, more structures were added. The centrepiece triumphal arch was erected in 1905 replacing a temporary version of the arcade by Gédéon Bordiau. The structures were built in iron, glass and stone, symbolising the economic, the surrounding 30-hectare park esplanade was full of picturesque gardens, ponds and waterfalls. It housed several trade fairs, exhibitions and festivals at the beginning of the century, in 1930 the government decided to reserve Cinquantenaire for use as a leisure park. The Royal Military Museum has been the tenant of the northern half of the complex since 1880. The southern half is occupied by the Jubelpark museum and the AutoWorld Museum, the Temple of Human Passions, a remainder from 1886, and the Great Mosque of Brussels from 1978 are located in the north-western corner of the park. Line 1 of the Brussels Metro and the Belliard Tunnel from wetstraat pass underneath the park, the nearest metro stations are Schuman to the west of the park, and Mérode immediately to the east. Originally this area was part of the exercise ground outside of the center of the city. For the world exhibition of 1880, the plain was developed as an exhibition center, the original pavilions of the 1880 exhibition, designed by Gédéon Bordiau, were largely replaced with the triumphal arcade designed by Charles Girault in 1904 and the large halls on both sides. Only the glass-constructed Bordiau halls remain from the 1880 structures, the Arch was planned for the world exhibition of 1880 and was meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the independence of Belgium. In 1880, only the bases of the columns were completed and, during the exhibition, the park was also the site of the Brussels International, for which the building wings were extended, although the arch was still incomplete. The original architect was the Belgian Gideon Bordiau, who spent close to 20 years on the project and his successor, chosen by Leopold, was the French architect Charles Girault. Girault changed the design from an arch to a tri-parte arch. Today the various buildings of the Jubelpark host three musea and one mosque, the surrounding park esplanade is used for several purposes in the summer, such as military parades and drive-in movies. It is also the point for the 20 km of Brussels. At the exhibition of 1910, a section of military history was presented to the public, given the enthusiasm of the population, the authorities established a museum of the army. This was in a period of tension which leads to the Great War
Arcades du Cinquantenaire
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The centrepiece
Arc du Cinquantenaire and U-shaped arcade
Arcades du Cinquantenaire
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The
triumphal arch was planned for the National Exhibition of 1880 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the independent state of
Belgium
Arcades du Cinquantenaire
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The inauguration of the Park at the 1880 National Exhibition. Notice the substitute arch, the intact southern Bordiau wing, Quenast Columns and frontmost fountain.
Arcades du Cinquantenaire
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A
maquette of the complex
9.
Royal Museum for Central Africa
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It was first built to showcase King Leopold IIs Congo Free State in the 1897 World Exhibition. The museum focuses on the Congo, a former Belgian colony, the sphere of interest however extends to the whole Congo River basin, Middle Africa, East Africa and West Africa, attempting to integrate Africa as a whole. Intended originally as a museum, from 1960 onwards it has more focused on ethnography. Like most museums, it houses a department in addition to its public exhibit department. Not all research pertains to Africa, some researchers have strong ties with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. As of November 2013, the museum is closed for work which is expected to last until 2017 when the museum will reopen. After considering other places, the decided to have a temporary exhibition in his royal estate at Tervuren. When the 1897 International Exposition was held in Brussels, a section was built in Tervuren. The Brussels-Tervuren tram line 44 was built at the time as the original museum by King Leopold II to bring the visitors from the city centre to the colonial exhibition. The colonial section was hosted in the Palace of the Colonies, the building was designed by the Belgian architect Albert-Philippe Aldophe and the classical gardens by French landscape architect Elie Lainé. In the main hall Georges Hobé designed a distinctive wooden Art Nouveau structure to evoke the forest, using Bilinga wood, the exhibition displayed ethnographic objects, stuffed animals and Congolese export products. In the park, a temporary Human zoo - a copy of an African village - was built, the exposition was a huge success. In 1898 the Palace of the Colonies became the Museum of the Congo, a decade later, in 1912, a small, similar museum - the African Museum of Namur - was opened in Namur. The Museum began to support research, but due to the avid collecting of the scientists. Tervuren became a suburb of Brussels. It was officially opened by King Albert I in 1910 and named the Museum of the Belgian Congo, in 1952 the adjective Royal was added. In preparation for Expo 58, in 1957 a large building was constructed to accommodate African personnel working in the exhibition, in 1960, following the independence of the Congo, the museums name was changed to its current title, the Royal Museum for Central Africa. In late 2013 the museum was closed to allow a major renovation of its exhibits and its reopening is planned for 2017
Royal Museum for Central Africa
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The building housing the museum, view from the park at the entrance to the museum.
Royal Museum for Central Africa
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The interior of the original exhibit in the Palais des Colonies
Royal Museum for Central Africa
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The interior of the museum, photographed in 2011, shortly before the museum's major renovation
Royal Museum for Central Africa
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Ethnographic objects on display in the museum
