Grand renovation plans for Cinquantenaire will be scaled down

Belgium’s federal government is only allocating €26 million for the large-scale renovation works in the Cinquantenaire Park, considerably less than the €62 million planned by the previous management team.

Major renovation works, which were planned to be carried out ahead of Belgium’s 200th anniversary year in 2030, will be postponed and only the facades of the park's buildings will be refurbished by this date, according to a note viewed by Flemish newspaper De Tijd.

A final decision on the text is not expected until the autumn, following a discussion between the government and the royal family.

In 2020, the previous federal government commissioned the non-profit organisation Horizon 50-200 to manage a prestige project revitalising Cinquantenaire Park to mark Belgium’s 200th anniversary and the park’s 150th year. Plans included notably a roof over the Cinquantenaire tunnel and an underground museum square.

A few years later, little remains of this plan. The text, signed by ministers Bernard Quintin (MR), Theo Francken (N-VA) and Vanessa Matz (Les Engagés), proposes to limit the project to renovating the facades and commissioning studies looking at a major redevelopment of the Cinquantenaire Park after 2030.

The federal level would allocate €26 million for this option, far less than the €62 million planned by the previous management team.

The museums mainly hope that the park’s outdated infrastructure will be rectified. “The old plan for 2030 was never a real answer to our needs anyway,” Peter Capreau, deputy director general of the Army Museum, told De Tijd. “A watertight roof, working electricity and a neat facade are.”

Project director Isabel Casteleyn previously explained to BRUZZ: “We first have to address the basic needs to make the site future-proof. We hope to have completed the facade work and joinery by 2030.”

According to minister Matz, the goal is “to ensure that the Cinquantenaire Park can host the festivities for Belgium’s 200th anniversary with dignity”.