A disaster, comparable to that suffered by Notre-Dame de Paris in April 2019. Tuesday morning, Brussels mourned its Palais des Beaux-Arts, said Bozar, victim of a fire on the roof of the building, in the afternoon from Monday January 18.
An incident for the cultural center of Brussels, which reopened on December 1, despite the pandemic.
In all, ninety-nine firefighters were mobilized, of which twelve, on rest, were called in to reinforce the service to ensure the continuity of service in the rest of the city.
By 9 p.m. the blaze was partly extinguished, but it was late in the evening that the fire soldiers left the perimeter.
"
Around midnight, most of the resources deployed left the scene, but a pumper remained on site all night to provide a fire watch,"
said the spokesperson for the Brussels fire department, Walter Derieuw.
Read also: Notre-Dame: behind the scenes of the first Christmas concert since the fire
Thousands of liters of water had to be dumped to bring the blaze under control, to which was added torrential rains on the night of Monday to Tuesday, which caused far more damage than the flames themselves.
Factors mainly responsible for the damage caused to the roof, as well as to the Henry Le Bœuf room where there is a monumental organ with 4000 pipes, similar to that of the Parisian cathedral.
The instrument, flooded during the intervention of the firefighters, was partly destroyed.
Optimism despite everything
No death is to be deplored, the Bozar being fortunately closed at the time of the facts, despite the presence of certain executives of the institution.
Two firefighters were injured, one victim of a heart attack and the other of a sprained tibia, as reported by
La Libre Belgique
.
We did not know, Tuesday evening, the causes of the start of fire, which occurred in one of the technical chambers of the roof, detailed the director of Bozar, Paul Dujardin, on RTBF radio, present in the premises at the time of the fire.
In addition, the art historian made a point of clarifying that
"the fire has nothing to do with the works"
, in progress at the Palace.
“The first analyzes show that the situation is serious but manageable.
We will still have to study, in the days and weeks to come, the various consequences of fire and rain before being able to close the roofs which, because of the incident, are no longer watertight. ”
Listing the various degradations, Dujardin was optimistic, despite the damage
"to the packages and furniture of the time"
.
“The works of art were all removed in time from the museum's exhibition rooms”
and
“the dome, made of glass and steel, seems to me to be completely intact,”
he said.
A serious situation, but not irreparable, even
"
[if] it
will be necessary to mobilize significant financial means to cover the damage caused by water and fire, the reconstruction of the rooms and, of course, the restoration of the organ"
.
No reopening before January 25
A board of directors will be held on Friday, to find out when and how the building can reopen.
The idea would be to divide the premises, in order to welcome the public in the miraculous part of the Palace.
An operation which will require, however, the restoration of water, electricity and heating.
As for a complete reopening, it should not be counted before a restoration and insulation of the roof, in order to prevent further water infiltration.
An evaluation is, on the other hand, still in progress to verify the stability of the building.
Despite the fire, the building should be able to maintain its current exhibitions, in particular those of its Ravenstein circuit, spared by the disaster.
As for the other activities scheduled in the great hall, such as the Queen Elisabeth competition or the Klara Festival, the director of the Bozar wants to believe in their maintenance.
Pending the first findings of experts, the Palace will close its doors until Monday, January 25, at least.