History of Mont des Arts
Mont des Arts (Kunstberg in Dutch) took more than half a century to build. What began as a royal ambition to create a monumental “hill of the arts” became, after two world wars, one of the most successful public spaces in Europe.
A hillside of narrow streets
Before the twentieth century, the slope linking the upper town — the Royal Quarter and the Coudenberg — to the lower town was occupied by a dense popular district of narrow streets, workshops and small houses. It was a busy, crowded hillside in the middle of a capital that was growing fast, and it stood directly between the royal palace and the commercial centre.
Leopold II and the idea of a “Mont des Arts”
In the late nineteenth century King Leopold II promoted a series of ambitious urban projects intended to give Brussels the monumentality of Paris or Vienna. One of them was the transformation of this hillside into a “Mont des Arts”, a quarter that would gather museums, libraries and exhibition halls on the slope. The name — art hill in French, Kunstberg in Dutch — survives from that period.
The 1910 Brussels International Exposition
The world fair of 1910 brought the idea to life for the first time. Temporary palaces and ornamental gardens were laid out on the slope, giving visitors a taste of what a monumental arts district could look like. When the fair ended, the temporary structures disappeared, but the ambition remained.
Half a century of debate
Work on the definitive project began in the interwar years, when parts of the old district were cleared, but it advanced slowly. Competing architectural plans, financing problems and two world wars delayed completion for decades, and for a long time the hillside was an open wound in the middle of Brussels.
The post-war reconstruction and Expo 58
After 1945 the site was rebuilt as a coherent modernist ensemble. The purpose had changed: rather than celebrating a dynasty, the new Mont des Arts was conceived as a public space from which ordinary citizens could see their whole city. Construction accelerated in the 1950s, and the 1958 World's Fair (Expo 58) brought millions of visitors to a Brussels that was presenting itself as modern and international.
René Pechère's terraced gardens
The gardens that step down the hillside are associated with the Belgian landscape architect René Pechère. His symmetrical terraces, clipped hedges, lawns and central fountain gave the monumental architecture a calm, human scale and created the green setting that makes the square pleasant to use. The planting has been renewed several times since, most notably in campaigns from the 1990s onwards.
KBR, BOZAR and the museum quarter
The cultural institutions around the square were built at different moments. BOZAR, the Centre for Fine Arts designed by Victor Horta, opened in 1928 and remains one of Brussels' major concert and exhibition venues. The Royal Library of Belgium, today KBR, occupies the eastern side of the square in a building largely erected in the 1950s and 1960s. A short walk away, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts and the Magritte Museum complete one of the densest museum districts in Europe.
Mont des Arts today
Mont des Arts is now a free, open public space used every day by Brussels residents and visitors. Its upper terrace has become the classic viewpoint over the old town, while the gardens host events, light installations and informal concerts. Continuously maintained by the Brussels-Capital Region, it remains the clearest expression of how a royal city project was turned into a civic one.
Sources & further reading
For official information on exhibitions, opening hours and events, consult the institutions and tourism organisations below.