Galerie Ravenstein

6-24 rue Ravenstein, 1000 Bruxelles, Brüssel

Club

The Galerie Ravenstein, a true Brussels landmark, is well known to commuters passing through the Central Station. Built between 1954 and 1958 to designs by architects Alexis and Philippe Dumont, it embodies the International Style, a modernist and economical approach to architecture. Its impressive concrete dome, adorned with hundreds of glass bricks, is an immediate eye-catcher and a testament to the architectural daring of the time. The gallery links Cantersteen (no. 3-9) to Rue Ravenstein (no. 6-24) and is designed as a long, straight passageway, leading to a vast rotunda on Rue Ravenstein. This rotunda, with its three levels and staircases, compensates for the 10-meter difference in level between the two streets. Originally, it housed eighty-one stores in a complex integrated with a four-storey office building, erected above a two-storey underground parking lot. Following in the tradition of the great covered passages of the 19th century, the Galerie Ravenstein plays an essential role in Brussels' pedestrian traffic, serving as a direct link between the upper and lower city, and leading to one of the capital's main transport hubs.