The Arts Society lecture with Nathalie Vandeperre: The Chinese pavilion was built on the edge of the Royal Estate at Laeken, Brussels on the orders of King Leopold ii between 1901 and 1910. He enthrusted it to the French architect Alexandre Marcel. The King's intentions was to have it as a luxury restaurant for businessmen with or looking to forge economic links with China. Work was begun in 1903, halted in 1905 and resumed in 1909. The pavilion, which owes its 'Chinese' look to the exterior panels imported from Shanghai, was opened in 1913, not as a restaurant, but as a further annex of the Trade Museum, just as the Japenese Tower.

Like the world-famous Eiffel Tower, the less-famous Tour Japonaise was a feature at the International Exposition in Paris in 1900. Though the world was taken by storm by the Eiffel Tower in 1889, by 1900 the Tour Japonaise seemed exotic, but still tame in comparison. Not everyone had become so jaded. The ruler of Belgium, King Leopold ii was so taken with the building that he had it packed up and moved kilometers from Paris to the park surrounding Château Royal de Laeken, Brussels (Koninklijk Kasteel), home of the Belgian Royal family.
Drinks at 19.30, lecture starts at 0
Live transmission via Zoom from the Town Ham