Photobook: Exploring Brussels’ architecture by bike (with special thanks to Jaspers-Eyers architects)

Isn’t Brussels just gorgeous?

I take great pleasure in writing this photography book’s (brief!) foreword; after all, it’s more about the pictures than the words.

And wow, what brilliant pictures!

Every photograph tells its own story, and all of those stories combined make up the many facets of the Brussels story. 

There are a few buildings that stand out and largely define the Brussels skyline. In fact, they even possess a certain iconic status.

For foreigners, the Atomium in Heizel Park is by far the most famous of these (and certainly the shiniest); however, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg and the Palace of Justice in Brussels are landmarks just as deserving of renown.

When leafing through this photography book, you’ll have to agree when I say that new Brussels architectural landmarks are constantly popping up as well, brought marvellously into focus here.

New and old architecture are occasionally found on the same page, or in the same photograph, in exactly the same way they might also appear in a single street scene. That’s because it’s true, Brussels is a genuine melting pot of style, personality, ambience...of everything, really.

What predominates when looking at the photographs is the contrasts and interplay: the glass cubes and marble staircases, the doors and roofs of stately bank buildings and provocative office buildings, the magnificent hall of Brussels Central station and small churches, the palaces and the public squares, the Marollen and Kleine Manhattan neighbourhoods, the most famous Grand Square in the world and the new European District, green and concrete, history and the future.

Crossroads, meeting spots, central locations, are all brought to life in these photographs.

In addition to photographs that appear to state fact, there are also questions evoked and exclamations made, concerning a city that is constantly growing, upwards most of all.
The people who appear sparingly dispersed throughout the book are a subtle nod to Magritte. 

More than anything, however, after you’ve shut the book, after avidly looking through its pages, a sigh escapes, “Isn’t Brussels just gorgeous?” We lose sight of this far too often. 

There are a host of lovely photography books about Brussels. On the other hand, however, perhaps even more visitor’s guides for and maps of Brussels have been developed, and in addition to this, so many declarations of admiration have showered over Brussels. What’s special about this book is that it combines all three of these elements.
A fantastic cycling route has been made part of the photography book, which, by the way, has little trouble standing on its own.The route passes by each of the Brussels gems catalogued here. Obviously, as a cyclist, your sight remains set at the same level; however, with this fantastic work tucked away in your panniers, you also have the opportunity to see what the vista would be like from the roof of a specific building. Or you can see what a group of sculptures crowning the top of the tower looks like from up close. However, from time to time, it is within the cyclist’s realm of possibility to develop a different point of view, and then it’s like the photographs cry out, “Look up! Look at Brussels!”

This photography book made me fall in love (again) with the myriad charms of Brussels.

GUY VANHENGEL