Charles Buls Memorial

Charles Buls (1837-1914) served as alderman for public education and then as Mayor of the City of Brussels. In 1897 the artists' circle "Pour l'Art" opened a subscription to give him a token of thanks for his commitment to preserving heritage and for his work restoring the Grand-Place.

The monument was designed by Victor Horta and the sculptor Victor Rousseau and made in 1898-1899. The tribute is addressed both to the mayor and to the main architects of the Grand-Place; the monument was inaugurated in December 1899.

It stands beneath the colonnade of the Maison de l'Étoile, a private house demolished in 1853 to widen the street and rebuilt in 1897 on Buls's initiative, with a colonnade at ground level.

The work combines white stone, bronze and gilding. A youth holding a lit lamp stands at the centre, his left arm raised towards the inscription, which is dated 1899 and dedicates the work to Buls, mayor of Brussels, on behalf of the grateful artists. The Dutch version was added afterwards, and a postcard of 1902-1903 shows the monument without it.

In the lower part, a seated woman rests a compass on a plan, an allegory of Architecture. At the back, a finely modelled depiction of the Maison du Roi can be made out; it stands a few steps away. At Buls's own request, the Brabant master architects of the Grand-Place are also named.

Around the base, Horta unfolds the "whiplash" line of plant-inspired Art Nouveau. A branch of acacia recalls the death of Hiram, architect of Solomon's temple, and alludes, like the compass, to Buls's membership of the Freemasons. A frieze of plants closes the composition at the bottom.

The monument stands beneath the gallery of the Maison de l'Étoile, which is open to passers-by, at the corner of the Grand-Place and Rue Charles Buls; it is set against the side wall of the neighbouring house, Le Cygne.

To its right, under the same gallery, is the memorial to Everard 't Serclaes, a bronze relief by the sculptor Julien Dillens.