Place_Rouppe

Place Rouppe

Place Rouppe

Square in Brussels, Belgium

The Place Rouppe (French) or Rouppeplein (Dutch) is a square in central Brussels, Belgium. It is named in honour of Nicolas-Jean Rouppe, the first mayor of the City of Brussels following the Belgian Revolution of 1830.[1] Rectangular and symmetrical in shape, it is located in the Midi–Lemonnier or Stalingrad Quarter (southern part of the City of Brussels), between the Rue du Midi/Zuidstraat and the Avenue de Stalingrad/Stalingradlaan.[2]

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History

The Place Rouppe was inaugurated on 26 September 1841 as a forecourt for Bogards' railway station, Brussels' first South Station, so-called for the former cloister of the Bogards' convent whose site it was built on, and to which the Rue des Bogards/Bogaardenstraat is nowadays the only reference. The former presence of a station at this location also explains the unusual width of the current Avenue de Stalingrad/Stalingradlaan, which goes from the square to the Small Ring (Brussels' inner ring road), a reminder of the train tracks that used to run in its middle.[1]

The Place Rouppe/Rouppeplein in 1884 from Bruxelles à travers les âges

In 1848, the Rouppe Fountain was inaugurated in the middle of the square. It was designed by the architect Joseph Poelaert and the sculptor Charles-Auguste Fraikin. In 1869, a new South Station was built on the site of the current Brussels-South Station, because Bogards' station had already become too small. The current layout, a central square surrounded by a cast iron gate and rows of trees, dates from 1884 and was designed by the city's architect Victor Jamaer [fr].[2]

Rouppe Fountain

Since 1844, the centre of square has been occupied by a monumental fountain known as the Rouppe Fountain. This monument, the work of Joseph Poelaert, and originally bearing a medallion bust of Rouppe, was inaugurated in 1848. It was inspired by the fountains of the Champs-Élysées in Paris.[2]

The fountain is made up of two basins; the water from the upper bronze basin flows into the lower blue stone basin through twelve lion mouths. At the request of the City of Brussels, the sculptor Fraikin, a former student of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, replaced the original medallion with an allegorical white marble statue representing the City of Brussels. She holds a laurel wreath in one hand and wears a reproduction of the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula on her head.[3]

See also

References

Citations

  1. [1]
    Gérard 2023, p. 23.
  2. [2]
    "Place Rouppe – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural". monument.heritage.brussels (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  3. [3]
    "Bruxelles - fontaine Rouppe". Musée de l'Eau et de la Fontaine (in French). Retrieved 21 December 2023.

Bibliography
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