De geseculariseerde kloosters in Brussel en Antwerpen

Factoren van stedelijke transformatie aan het begin van de negentiende eeuw

Samenvatting

The Secularized Convents in Brussels and Antwerp: Factors of Urban Transformation at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century

The suppression of the religious houses in Belgian towns between 1773 and 1796 contributed to a deep metamorphosis of the urban landscape. The combination of three historical reasons makes the larger Belgian towns an exceptional case. Firstly, there was a high urban tradition in which an important presence of religious orders, reinforced at the Counter-Reformation, has been maintained since the Middle Ages. Secondly, the successive dependence on Austrian, French and Dutch rulers at the turn of the nineteenth century give a unique historical context to secularization processes and changing relationships between Church and State. Thirdly Belgium was the cradle of the industrial revolution on the continent, where towns rapidly grew and changed thanks to capital from private investment and industry.

This paper results from an on going research project on urban transformation and heritage formation after the suppression of religious houses in Belgian towns at the dawn of the modern age (1773-1860), and focuses on two major cities. The first city is Brussels (2 abbeys, 28 convents), the capital and most populated city of the country, with needs for aesthetic modernisation, public, administration, military and sanitation buildings, as well as early industry: The second city is Antwerp (1 abbey, 26 convents), a provincial capital and strategic military town with a regional textile industry, an important harbour and wharves.

Comparing Brussels and Antwerp reveals different urban redevelopment strategies and actors, according to the private or public status of the promoter. In the case of reuse, religious houses were assigned to the new institutions of the lay State (court of justice, barrack, school, hospital, prison, museum) or used by private owners for industry or housing. In the case of demolition, religious houses were replaced with new urban material, from private housing projects to new public space including prestigious buildings for the new elite (theatre, botanical garden).

The owners of old convents often changed because of speculation, economical crisis and diversification of investment. It was not rare that buildings, after having been first reused, were later demolished and replaced with new buildings according to the rationalisation of infrastructures and modernisation of state institutions.