Villa Empain

Geschiedenis

The Villa Empain is a private house in the Art Deco style designed and built between 1930 and 1934 by Swiss architect Michel Polak for Baron Louis Empain, son of Belgian industrialist Baron Édouard Empain, located in Brussels, Belgium.HistoryLouis Empain did not follow his father's entrepreneurial footsteps and barely inhabited the villa after its completion in 1934. He donated the property to the Belgian state in 1937, with the intention of turning it into a museum of decorative and contemporary art. The foundation, known as the Le Cambre School hosted various exhibition in the villa until 1943. During the German occupation in World War II, the property was requisitioned by the German Army. It served afterwards as the Embassy of the Soviet Union. In the 1970s, the villa was rented by RTL television before being left unoccupied in the 1990s.In 2000, the villa was purchased by Belgian businessman Stéphan Jourdain, he then proceeded to modernise the building without gaining appropriate permission, removing many unique articles and so on 12 July 2001 the Brussels-based conservation organisation, 'Monuments et Sites' sought to rescue the site from further destruction and locked the site down from further action. In 2001 the villa was added to the architectural heritage list of Brussels. The site then lay empty and suffered from vandalism and squatters. In 2008, the Fondation Boghossian acquired the building and initiated an extensive renovation program. Inaugurated in 2010, the villa is a cultural center which hosting art exhibitions, concerts and conferences.

"La Villa Empain, remarquable témoin de l’architecture Art déco, abrite la Fondation Boghossian, centre d’art et de dialogue entre les culture d’Orient et d’Occident. Une programmation riche et variée de performances, conférences, événements festifs, rencontres internationales, visites guidées et activités pour enfants est proposée au public"