Hartelijk Bedankt
Johan Creytens, the owner of Hotel Heritage, one of the city’s most prestigious addresses, recommends, “It’s always worth checking the cultural calendar for concerts at the Concertgebouw.” And it’s always worth walking the Concertgebouw Circuit. This is a route up ramps inside the building, taking in visual art and sound installations, before climaxing on the roof terrace.
It’s a breath of modernity amidst medieval monuments under the unrelenting regard of the winter sun. On the edge of the historic centre en route to the railway station, Concertgebouw provides an invigorating visitor experience. Ghent architect duo Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem won the design competition in 1999 and just three years later the first performance was held in the 1,289 seater concert hall. Paul says, “We definitely didn’t want to build a plush building so we went for concrete to create both acoustics and silence. Massive, solid, heavy. We have no problem with keeping concrete visible: it doesn’t have to be camouflaged.” The concert hall and arts centre in stats: the exterior is clad with 68,000 terracotta tiles and each year 3,000 artists take part in 165 performances in front of 140,000 audience members.
Hilde explains, “The Concertgebouw lives at the intersection of many worlds: the city, the square, nature. Each of its elevations may appear to be different but all of them work together as a whole and share a common feature of transparency. Through their large and small windows, the outside world can look in.” Paul adds, “Our main source of inspiration was historic Bruges. It was a challenge to create a reclining body that had to coexist alongside those venerable city towers, especially the mighty brick tower of the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, or Church of Our Lady.”
Georges Rodenbach writes in his 1892 novel Bruges-la-Morte about the “misty labyrinth of the streets of Bruges”. The urban maze between the towers of Bruges is on full show from the roof terrace on top of Concertgebouw. Johan comments, “I was born here and sometimes still discover new buildings or alleys between the landmarks. A landmark isn’t a landmark unless it’s been recreated in Lego. And so Dirk Denoyelle, who runs a team of Lego artists in Flanders called Amazings, has designed a 185 piece Lego set of Concertgebouw. It joins the likes of Ashford Castle (County Mayo), Leadenhall Building (London) and Stadsmuseum (Ghent) in relishing this honour.
