BRUSSIA!!!

The Who do a number called, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. Sadly, this cannot be applied to poor Mike who was conned into a trip to Brussels in Dec by the lure of glühwein, Xmas markets, and much European sparkle. What I didn’t tell him was that there were a number of exhibitions I wanted to go to. 10 to be exact. I chose the moment carefully to reveal this – the Eurostar had made it through the tunnel and had passed Lille before I broke the news. I had visions of being thrown off the train at Ashford otherwise. What follows is a quick rundown of each exhibit. And you will be pleased to know that each evening, we did the Xmas markets and the Grand Place with its son et lumière, I ate whatever dodgy market food Mike wanted, and showed vast interest in the art nouveau buildings he so loves. In the end, he didn’t feel too hard done by, but feel free to show him sympathy as it always helps the cause (the next one being staying in a posh hotel that Lilly Langtry owned and in which my cousin is getting married). So, here we go:

Exhibit 1 – Astrid

She is, as you know, well dead, and it’s 80 yrs since she married Leopold III whose driving left a lot to be desired. This exhibit was done with much care and love and told her life story room by room. Each room had film footage on show as well, most of which I hadn’t seen before. There was a section dedicated to their tour in Congo, one to the Astrid effect – similar to the Diana one, one to her fashion sense, one to her children, and of course, one on her death. Heaps of photos. Items were lent from the Brussels palace but also much from the collection of Grand Duke Jean and included:

furniture from the playhouse she used as a child

exercise books

her wedding outfits inc shoes

several dresses inc one lovely pink affair with lots of feathers  

loads of hats

jewellery – some costume, some real inc an emerald choker given to her by Queen Elisabeth on the birth of her first child

official letters from Leopold to various officials announcing their marriage and her death

personal letters inc one to Charles from Leopold after her death talking about the children, and an affectionate one from Albert to Astrid

postcards sent by Astrid to Josephine-Charlotte when they were on tour in the Congo, one of which began “Chère petite Joe”. Also the last postcard she ever sent the children from Switzerland

This exhibition was moving. I had tears in my eyes by the end. And I visited it twice.

Queen Astrid with her children Josephine-Charlotte (later Grand Duchess of Luxembourg),

Albert (the present King of the Belgians) and Baudouin (the late King)

Exhibit 2 – From Tsar to Emperor

Dreary, deeply dreary and not my period at all. It was basically all the Russian Tsars up to Catherine the Great – heavy emphasis on icons, silver plate, liturgical costumes and furniture.

Exhibit 3 – the Bellevue Museum

Formerly known as the Museum of the Dynasty, now a museum that tells the story of the dynasty incorporated with the story of the country. I suspect it’s far more worthy from a social history point of view, but from a royal history point of you, it is not as good as it used to be. However, I felt the section on Charles as regent was better and gave a fairer view of him – as a man who went into hiding in WW2 and did his best as regent at a time when he was getting stick from the careless driver. Less on the Congo in the Leopold II section, and certainly not nearly as much criticism of him as there should have been. Mainly photos and documents, not really thrilling.

Exhibit 4 – The Trans Siberian

Beautifully done. Sound effects and scenery making it truly evocative. So good that I persuaded Mike to go along and he agreed with me. I can’t praise this highly enough and Marion [Wynn] was in my thoughts most of the time I was there. Marion – you have to get to Brussels to see this. You follow the journey and each place you stop is examined in detail – how long it’s taken to get there, how many miles, what historically happened there, what the population is like, what the weather is like, costumes, scenery, photos. The Ekaterinburg bit did feature the Romanovs of course – photos from Gilliard’s collection of the Ipatiev house and that bit of wallpaper with writing on from the murder room were on show. You really felt you’d travelled from West to East when you left the exhibit. However, skip the railway café as the food is as awful as it’s rumoured to be in Siberia.

Exhibit 5 – Dynastie and Photographie

This was really one for Charlotte [Zeevat] and Frances [Dimond] and reminded me of Frances’s exploration of Queen Alexandra and her growing interest in photography. Again done chronologically, it examined each King and Queen, showing unusual images of them as well as the common ones we know – photos they had taken and photos taken of them. The use of photos for good PR was emphasised especially in connection with Leo I, Astrid and Baudoin – in fact there was a whole showcase of mags, biscuit tins, mugs and other commemoratives. Another 2 showcases on Leo III and life after Astrid with lots of his cameras and the photos he took on his trips to Africa. Cameras belonging to Albert and Elisabeth too with photos of them photographying, they seemed to love it as much as Queen A. And a whole hideous showcase on royal deaths that Ove would have loved which inc deathbed scenes of Louise, Charlotte + funeral, Maximilain in coffin (just awful) and the child of Leo II and Henriette that died.

Exhibit 6 – Lace

This really was mainly lace, not billed as royal but billed as lace. I had made out from the museum blurb that there was some royal lace to be seen which it took me a while to find – christening lace belonging to Astrid’s kids + some of Henriette’s train. All very lovely. In fact, there was lots of beautiful workmanship and it was a joy to wander around. Less on the conditions of the poorly paid lace makers though.

Exhibit 7 – Symbolism in Russia

This was a lovely lovely art exhibit which I am sure I would have enjoyed even more had I been able to understand the captions. It was basically turn of the century Russian art – not the big landscapes we had in London last year, smaller pictures, still lives, domestic scenes, lots of scenes that evoked Russia for me. Again, one for Marion and probably Amy too. Artists I knew inc Vrubel and Kuznetsov but my favourite by a mile was Borisov-Musatov who seemed to do Russian scenes with the lightness of the Impressionists. It was housed in a museum called Musée Communal d’Ixelles which had plenty of other fine art too so I was there for hours. Heavy on Impressionists.

The reservoir, by Victor Borisov -Musatov, 1902

Exhibit 8 – Fabergé

Can one become a little jaded when one has seen so much Fabergé? Nearly. I certainly thought this was not the best I’d seen – didn’t match the Munich for example. But still, I spent a good few hours here so worth the entrance fee (which would have been twice the price in London). But it was hard work and a little disjointed. One had to be very careful to explore every nook and cranny as eggs were hidden around corners etc etc. And as for the “bad signage” as Ilana would put it. Dreadful, absolutely dreadful. Small labels in each glass cabinet – badly lit, some imposs to read if short, and none of them numbered so it’s anyone’s guess what explanation refers to what piece sometimes. In the end, I bought the catalogue to help me – which does not come in English – and which is not de rigueur if you have loads of Faberge books already. Loans from Vekselberg (calling himself “The Link of the Times”), the Queen, various local Russian museums, the Danish royals, the Kremlin, Huis Doorn, Pavlovsk, and A La Vielle Russie. Missing – the Danish Palaces egg, caught up in Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans but featured in the catalogue. Best pieces in my humble opinion:

Triangular silver photo frame of lots of tiny photos of Vorontsov-Dashkov family

A box of all the different enamels that the firm used (and this is not featured in the damn catalogue)

Ella’s lorgnettes

10^th Anniversary photo frame give by Miche to Miche to Countess de Torby

lamp from the Alexander Palace

Cross of St George Egg

Mosaic egg

Coronation Egg

Rennaisance Egg

You know what else was there – photo frames, boxes, flowers, little animals. And lots of people

The Renaissance Egg, the last egg presented by Alexander III to Marie Feodorovna, 1894

Exhibit 9 – View of the Volga

B&W photos of towns on the Volga from the early days of photography. Interesting but not a thing Romanov.

Exhibit 10 – 7 Sisters of Moscow

This is about the 7 Soviet Gothic Style tower blocks – for those on Charlotte’s Moscow tour – yes that dreadful hotel was featured. There were plans and building info on each one but the really nice thing was the paintings – supposedly architectural impressions, of what they would turn out like – rather wispy impressionistic affairs which made them look romantic to even a claustrophobic who got stuck in one of their lifts. The hour long film about them was good to watch for old shots of Moscow and construction work therein inc the destruction of the Christ the Saviour church.

Copyright Sue Woolmans, 2005

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