Brussels Art Nouveau Year attracts more than 1 million visitors
More than 1 million people took part in the Brussels Art Nouveau Year in 2023, Brussels secretary of state for Heritage Ans Persoons said on Friday.
130 years after the pioneer of Art Nouveau Victor Horta put his finishing touches on the Hotel Tassel in 1893, Brussels organised its celebratory Art Nouveau Year. The initiative was taken by former secretary of state and current Brussels MP Pascal Smet and finished by his successor, Persoons.
"Brussels is the absolute cradle of Art Nouveau, but too few people have known about it. In 2023, we changed that," Persoons said in a press release. "Thanks to the Art Nouveau Year, Brussels is now the undisputed Art Nouveau capital of the world."
© urban.brussels
Urban.brussels, visit.brussels, museums and organisations, and the 19 municipalities of Brussels joined forces for the project. Brussels has around 1,000 Art Nouveau buildings. Of these, 200 are protected, including four UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
"The Art Nouveau heritage in Brussels is a tourist asset, and the 2023 figures show that," said Rudi Vervoort, minister president of the Brussels-Capital Region. "Almost 5 million people visited our museums and our heritage. Thus, we exceeded the record year of 2019," he said.
The Art nNouveau movement of architecture and design first appeared in Brussels in the early 1890s and quickly spread to France and the rest of Europe.
Hotel van Eetvelde, a townhouse designed in 1895 by Victor Horta © BELGA PHOTO ADRIAN BURTIN
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