Belgian and Dutch Architecture

The architecture of Belgium and the Netherlands. The present state of Belgium only dates from 1830, when it was separated from the kingdom of the Netherlands, established in 1815. Before that date the two countries had formed part of larger empires from time to time, and were subject to architectural influence from France to the south and from Germany to the east. Both became rich during the Middle Ages, but both, especially Belgium, have suffered much damage to historical buildings during times of war.

Early and Romanesque Though both countries were included in the Roman Empire, no Roman buildings of note survive. Christianity arrived late on the scene, and the earliest important historical monument is St Gertrude at Nivelles 1046, an Ottonian church dating from the period when the Netherlands belonged to the arch-diocese of Cologne. Another example of the same period is the nave of the cathedral at Tournai 1070 (the transept and towers were constructed about 80 years later). There are several Romanesque buildings at Liège, including the former St John, St Bartholomew, and the cathedral.

Gothic The Gothic style was imported from France, and can be seen in the rebuilt east end of Tournai Cathedral (1242). The principal surviving Gothic buildings in Belgium are the cathedrals of Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Louvain, Malines, and Ypres; the town halls of Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Louvain, and Oudenarde; the battered Cloth Hall at Ypres; the church of Notre-Dame du Sablon at Brussels; and the collegiate church at Huy. In the Netherlands, the main Gothic works are the cathedrals of Dordrecht, Haarlem, and Utrecht; and the town halls of Middelburg and Veere. There are also gabled houses of the period in both countries.

Renaissance The Renaissance movement from Italy reached Belgium and Holland late. Its earlier works closely resemble English Elizabethan and Jacobean buildings, because English architects of that period derived many of their ideas from Flemish, Dutch, and German books. Examples of this style are to be found in gabled house fronts all over the two countries, and also in some civic buildings, for example the meat market at Haarlem (1603), the town hall at Leiden (1579), and the steeples of many churches. The town hall of Antwerp (1565–66) is a more conservative design, but its central gable, its mullioned windows, and its bold eaves give it a Flemish picturesqueness. The Mauritshuis (1630) at The Hague, the nearby Huis ten Bosch (1645), and many of the quiet streets of Haarlem, Amsterdam, and other Dutch cities, recall the dignified domestic architecture of Christopher Wren.

Baroque Baroque architecture, favoured in all the Catholic countries of Europe, made little appeal to the Dutch, who stripped all trappings from inside their churches after they became Protestant at the Reformation. In Catholic Belgium however, there was great activity, not only in building new churches at Montaign (1609), Ghent (St Pierre, 1629), Malines (Notre Dame de Hanswyck, 1663), Antwerp (Jesuit church, 1614–21), Brussels (Notre-Dame du Beguinage, 1664), Louvain (St Michel, 1650), and Namur (St Loup, 1621–53); but also in decorating existing churches internally with ornate pulpits, confessionals, and altarpieces. The row of Guild houses in the Grande Place at Brussels, erected between 1697 and 1752, are late baroque or rococo in character.

19th- and 20th-centuries The Bourse at Brussels (1874) is typical of French architecture of the period. The Palais de Justice at Brussels (1866–83) is in baroque revival style; the railway station at Amsterdam (1889 by Cuypers) and the grandiose Palace of Peace at The Hague (finished 1913) are typical buildings of the period immediately before the Netherlands gave outstanding expression to the art nouveau movement, particularly in the work of Victor Horta and Henri van der Velde.

Both countries gave considerable impetus to the Modern Movement in architecture early in the present century. One of the pioneers of that movement was Hendrik Petrus Berlage, designer of the Bourse at Amsterdam (1899–1903); and a prominent leader of the movement was Willem Marinus Dudok, most of whose work was done in Hilversum. The extensive housing schemes carried out in Holland after World War I aroused great interest, as did some of the factories and department stores built at the same period.