Mundaneum (ancien grand magasin L'Indépendance)

Former cooperative department store 'L'Indépendance', designed in 1929-1930 by the architect Guillaume Vleugels for the 'Union coopérative de Belgique'. The Walloon inventory describes an imposing building tinged with regionalist spirit and Art Deco in the flat decoration of its upper floors, with an interior of galleries around a light well. At the back, on Rue des Passages, a cubic Expressionist-style volume, influenced by Dutch architecture, housed the cooperative bakery and depot. Renovated in 1998 by Jean-Pierre Saintenois, it houses the Mundaneum, which brings together the collections of Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine in a scenography by Benoît Peeters and François Schuiten; the site holds the European Heritage Label (2016) and its archives are on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register (2013).

Translated from the French original.