User:Bangiomorpha/Hôtel de ville de Charleroi

The Charleroi town hall is a vast eclectic building combining Classicism and Art Deco, inaugurated in 1936. The ensemble forms a vast quadrilateral including a 70-metre high belfry. The building, listed since 2001, is part of the exceptional real estate heritage of Wallonia and the belfry is part of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Site since 1 December 1999.

The main façade faces the Place Charles II in the upper town of Charleroi.

Histoiry
In the fortress built in 1667, the site of the present town hall was occupied by a cavalry quarter.

Following the dismantling of the first fortress in 1748 by Louis XV, King of France, before he returned the town to Austria, the municipal authorities installed various services there before acquiring the building to make it the town hall.

In 1800, under French rule, the town became a sub-prefecture and the seat of a court of first instance.

The Administration moved to the Ville-Basse, in the former Capuchin convent, a space currently occupied by the Passage de la Bourse. The town house, refurbished by public subscription, became a courthouse. A new courthouse was built on the same site in 1826, according to the plans of the architect Jean Kuypers. In 1880, a second courthouse was inaugurated on the present Boulevard Audent and the City Council decided to reinstate the building in the Ville-Haute.

The current town hall
Following a competition for the construction of a new town hall, the project of the architect Jules Cézar was chosen in 1930. It was carried out in collaboration with Joseph André, who completed the project alone in 1934. The inauguration took place in 1936.

The building was built in blue and white stone on two levels with slate roofs. The facades on the side of the Place Charles II are treated in an eclectic spirit tinged with "Art Deco", aligning high quadrangular bays, except for those opening the ground floor entrance wing, with a semi-circular frame. The interior spaces, such as the hall and the main staircase, are richly decorated in the same style.

In addition to its administrative and political functions, the town hall has a festival hall with a capacity of over 1,000 people. Before the construction of the Exposition Palace at the end of the 1950s, the ground floor on the Rue du Beffroi side was occupied by the fire brigade. Until 2007, the second floor housed the Museum of Fine Arts, before it was moved to the Palace of Fine Arts due to water infiltration.

Belfry
Towards the Place du Manège, at the corner formed by the Rue du Beffroi and the Rue du Dauphin, there is a belfry strongly marked by the "Art Deco".

With a square plan and a height of 70 metres, it is built in petit granit for the ground floor and white stone for the upper floors, in brick up to the chamber housing the carillon, and in white stone for the upper part. The tower is topped with a bronze crown bell.

The construction of this belfry posed stability problems due to the weight of the whole (35,000 tons), but also to the terrain subject to mining movements.

To ensure maximum stability, the tower rests on a footing with a surface area of 400 m2, reinforced with concrete containing 160 kg of iron per cubic metre. In addition, a hydraulic jack is placed inside each of the four support pillars. These jacks are used to adjust the plumbness of the building.

The belfry is equipped with a clock and a carillon of forty-seven bells that plays a popular tune by Jacques Bertrand, a 19th century chansonnier born in Charleroi.

Classification
The ensemble - original furniture and furnishings - was classified by the Walloon Region in 2001. The whole is included in the exceptional heritage of Wallonia. The belfry is listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Artists
Many artists have participated in the decoration of the building.

Hector Brognon

Oscar De Clerck

Robert Delnest

Jos Desmedt

Raoul Godefroid