Royal Castle of Laeken: A Belgian Royal Residence in Brussels
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Belgium
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Belgian, Dutch, Habsburg
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page14 sections
History
The Royal Castle of Laeken is a neoclassical palace in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium, built between 1782 and 1784 as a pleasure and summer residence for the governors of the Habsburg Netherlands. This was the Habsburg monarchy’s territory in the Low Countries, administered on behalf of the Austrian dynasty. Designed by Charles de Wailly and constructed under the supervision of Louis Montoyer, the palace stood on the Schoonenberg estate and was originally called the Palace of Schonenberg.
Habsburg origins and French occupation
The new residence replaced the former Habsburg residence at Tervuren, which Emperor Joseph II had ordered destroyed. During construction, Archduke Albert of Saxe-Teschen and Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria spent some summers in an earlier manor house on the estate, known as ‘t Groothof. The palace was ceremonially inaugurated in 1785, but the couple made limited use of it. The Brabant Revolution, an 1789–1790 revolt against Joseph II’s reforms in the Austrian Netherlands, and the French invasion disrupted their residence. They left Brussels permanently in 1795.
During the French period, the estate first served as a military headquarters and later as a prison. Austria relinquished its possessions in the Netherlands through the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801, an agreement that confirmed the cession of territories west of the Rhine to France. The estate was then sold in lots. In 1803, Jean-Baptiste Terrade bought the palace intending to demolish it and sell its materials. Roof slates, pipes, parquet flooring, and other elements had already been removed when Napoleon Bonaparte arranged its purchase by the Department of the Dyle in 1804.
Napoleonic and Dutch royal use
Napoleon commissioned the Brussels city architect Henry to repair and adapt the palace. A library was installed, and the interiors received French Empire furnishings, including mahogany furniture, tapestries, and silk curtains. Napoleon visited Laeken several times. In 1812, he gave the palace to his former wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, in exchange for the Élysée Palace. Joséphine planned improvements but never lived at Laeken.
After the creation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, Laeken became the summer residence of King William I. The new state united the northern and southern Netherlands under William I and lasted until the Belgian Revolution and Belgian independence. William retained Henry to construct an orangery and a theater, while the earlier manor house of ‘t Groothof was demolished.
Following Belgian independence, the Belgian state placed the palace at the disposal of King Leopold I in 1831. Laeken has served as a royal residence since Leopold I’s accession, although the Royal Palace of Brussels remained the court’s official working palace.
Leopold II and the transformation of the estate
In 1873, King Leopold II commissioned Alphonse Balat to design the Royal Greenhouses. Leopold II also enlarged the surrounding domain by acquiring land and demolishing farms and settlements, including Hoogleest and Neerleest. The estate grew from the 78 hectares he inherited to more than 200 hectares.
Laeken became a setting for technological and architectural experiments as well as royal life. In 1884, a line of Clément Ader’s théâtrophone, an early telephone system for transmitting live theatrical performances to distant listeners, linked the palace theater with the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie.
A major fire broke out on 1 January 1890 during a New Year’s reception attended by the royal couple at the Royal Palace of Brussels. Princess Clémentine was rescued by her maid, Antoinette, while the governess Drancourt died. The fire devastated Laeken’s north wing and dome. Napoleon’s library and the only portrait of Prince Leopold were destroyed. Leopold II entrusted Balat with the restoration. The rebuilt dome used a metal structure instead of the former wooden one, and two octagonal pavilions connected to the central building by glazed galleries were added. Leopold II mockingly referred to them as “Monsieur Balat’s donkey ears.”
In 1902, Leopold II commissioned the French architect Charles Girault to transform Laeken into a “Palace of the Nation” for congresses and public receptions. Girault designed two monumental wings that gave the palace a U-shaped plan. Work began in 1902, stopped in 1906 for financial and other reasons, resumed in March 1909, and ended again after Leopold II’s death on 17 December 1909. King Albert I did not continue the project. In 1904, the expansion employed 700 masons and stonecutters, 150 horses, and seven steam cranes. A proposed railway station beneath the palace never entered service, and its station hall remained unfinished.
The royal residence in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth arranged experimental radio broadcasts from Laeken in 1914. A large garden antenna was later dismantled after the outbreak of the First World War. During their period, swans were established in the park, and Queen Elisabeth had an English-style painting studio built beside the azalea greenhouse.
After Albert I died in 1934 and Queen Astrid died in 1935, King Leopold III moved to Laeken with his children. His mother, Queen Elisabeth, continued to live there for a time. During the Second World War, German occupying authorities held Leopold III at the palace, where he secretly remarried Lilian Baels. In 1944, he and his family were deported to Germany.
After the war, Laeken became associated with the Royal Question, the political crisis over whether Leopold III should return to the Belgian throne after his conduct and captivity during the war. Regent Charles lived at Laeken while carrying out political work from the Royal Palace of Brussels. Leopold III, Lilian, and their family later continued to live at the palace until moving to the Château d’Argenteuil in December 1960, after the marriage of King Baudouin.
Baudouin lived at Laeken throughout his reign from 1951 to 1993. His widow, Queen Fabiola, remained there until 1998 before moving to Stuyvenberg. King Albert II and Queen Paola continued to live at the Belvédère, their residence since their marriage in 1959, while Albert II used Laeken for receptions, gala dinners, and ceremonial meetings. Since 1999, the private apartments have been occupied by King Philippe, Queen Mathilde, and their four children. The palace has remained primarily a royal residence while also hosting receptions, including Philippe and Mathilde’s engagement celebration in 1999 and the 2001 Laeken European Council summit. At Queen Paola’s request, a play pavilion associated with the childhood of Leopold III’s children was restored for use by Princess Elisabeth and her siblings and cousins.
Remains
The palace buildings
Central palace
The palace’s central structure forms a quadrilateral approximately 90 metres long. Its neoclassical design has Neo-Palladian characteristics, with a central flight of stairs flanked by two lateral ramps. Each ramp carries a female-headed sphinx sculpted by Godefroid Devreese. The original sphinxes, attributed to Gilles-Lambert Godecharle, disappeared during the French period.
The projecting central section of the façade, known as an avant-corps, contains four large Ionic columns supporting a pediment. Its tympanum, the decorated surface within the pediment, carries Godecharle’s bas-relief Time Presiding over the Hours, the Parts of the Day, and the Return of the Seasons. A large vestibule leads into the interior. It contains Godecharle’s statue of Victory and a monumental staircase rising to the palace’s sole principal upper storey.
Interior rooms
Beyond the vestibule lies the Dome Room, a circular salon surrounded by twelve Corinthian columns and twelve doors and windows. The upper sections of these openings contain Godecharle’s bas-reliefs representing the twelve months. The room opens on one side to a Louis XVI dining room and on the other to the Throne Room. Further bas-reliefs by Godecharle decorate the overdoors of both rooms.
Later wings and unfinished station
William I’s orangery and theater were incorporated into later construction. The enlarged left wing contained reception salons, a banqueting hall, a theater foyer, and a long gallery leading toward the railway station. The right wing held the King’s apartments, including a library, grand salon, and bedroom, together with a long gallery opening onto a chapel and a riding school.
Girault’s two monumental wings established the palace’s present U-shaped outline. Beneath the palace, the associated railway station and station hall remained unfinished and never functioned. Balat’s post-fire work is visible in the metal structure of the rebuilt dome, the two octagonal pavilions, and their glazed connecting galleries.
Gardens and royal domain
Landscape garden
The original landscape garden covered approximately 58 hectares. It included grottoes, water features, and an island called the Island of Friendship. A Sun Pavilion and a Temple of Friendship, both attributed to Charles de Wailly, still survive within the grounds.
The Royal Domain is enclosed by walls and iron gates. Its landscaped gardens include lakes, a golf course, and artworks. The domain also contains the Chinese Pavilion and Japanese Tower, both commissioned by Leopold II. The Japanese Tower is a pagoda inspired by a structure Leopold II saw at the Paris Exposition of 1900 and designed by Alexandre Marcel.
Royal Greenhouses
The Royal Greenhouses are connected to the palace by the orangery. Designed initially by Alphonse Balat, they were built between 1874 and 1905. After Balat’s death in 1895, Henri Maquet and Charles Girault continued the work, with the young Victor Horta also contributing to the development of the complex. The greenhouses cover approximately 2.5 hectares.
The principal structures include the Congo Greenhouse and the domed greenhouse known as the Iron Church. The latter was originally intended to serve as a royal chapel. Corridors filled with flowering plants extend for hundreds of metres between the main greenhouses. The complex contains a royal botanical collection of camellias, orange trees, and plants originating in the African territories of the former Belgian Empire. Sculptures and Chinese vases form part of its interiors.
Park features
The estate includes royal stables and Queen Elisabeth’s painting studio beside the azalea greenhouse. Lakes and trees planted for Leopold II’s children form part of the park, which also supports populations of swans, Canada geese, great cormorants, and grey herons.
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