Brussels Agenda: Heritage Days 2024

The 36th edition of Heritage Days / Journées du Patrimoine takes place in Brussels during the weekend of 14 & 15 September 2024. This year’s edition is dedicated to ‘New Heritage’.

Visitors are invited to take a look at the nearby past, which is still very present in our daily lives, and at the city that has been built and transformed from the 1970s to the beginning of the 21st century. Half a century of upheaval caused by successive crises, the effects of which we are still feeling, but also half a century of resilience in the city and a specific materiality that we have inherited today.

During the programme of the Heritage Days, many interesting buildings will be open for visits. This year, some of the highlights from the ‘New Heritage’ category will be the two buildings in the European District from this period, Arlon 53 and Brusssimo. These two iconic pieces of architecture are still too little known for its unique heritage.

‘New Heritage’, a different look at the evolution of architecture

For this 36th edition, Urban has chosen a theme that, despite its rich heritage, is still little known to the general public: the period from 1970 to 2000.

These days will be a unique opportunity for many Brussels residents and visitors to the capital to (re)discover and take a fresh look at a series of buildings and edifices from the recent past, which bear witness to half a century of resilience in the city and a specific materiality that we have inherited today.

Modernist, functionalist, brutalist, contemporary architecture… Brussels has a wealth of ‘New Heritage’ that makes Brussels famous internationally, and which is currently the subject of a great deal of scientific and academic research and study in history of architecture.

As a reminder, last April the Brussels Region decided to complete the inventory of its architectural heritage by registering more than 4,000 properties dating from the 1939-1999 inventory. More than 600 of those were built between 1975 and 2000, and are called ‘New Heritage’. It doesn’t only concern new housing, principally located on the outskirts of the Region, but also office buildings, sports and cultural infrastructure, schools, churches and commercial properties. It could also be quality interventions on older buildings, with respect for the heritage value of the edifice; for example the subterranean extension to the Museum of Fine Arts in a project by Roger Bastin, or the monumental roof of La Bellone in the Rue de Flandre, realised by the Greisch firm.

Heritage Days is an annual event which enables Brussels residents and visitors to discover the Belgian capital’s exceptional heritage from a special angle and gain access to places that are not usually easily accessible. The event is organised by the Brussels-Capital Region, as part of the European Heritage Days, an initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Click here for more info & photos or visit the website of the Heritage Days for the full programme.