Report (Permission Visit) Aegidium Cinema, Belgium August 2023

mookster · Aug 24, 2023

The Diamont Palace opened in 1905 in the Sint-Gillis district of Brussels. It was first a ‘Salle de Spectacle’ and the auditorium was located one floor up, at first floor level. The foyer and stairs have the feel of entering a grand house, with marble, mirrors and chandeliers all still intact. Seating in the auditorium was provided in stalls and balcony levels. It was a palistered and mirrored auditorium, flanked by Moorish style arches along the walls, with the proscenium flanked by trompe l'oeil paintings.

In 1913 it became a cinema and in 1923 the name was changed to Aegidium Cinema.

After closing in 1979, the auditorium became a furniture repository and this was still operating in 1995 when the Cinema Theatre Association included the building on its visit to the cinemas & theatres of Brussels in September 1995. Adjacent to the building was a ‘Salon’ which was in in use by a theatre group. The cinema is now used as a community centre.

The Aegidium Cinema was described as ‘a rare example of an early Belgian cinema’.

(courtesy of cinematreasures)

Sometimes the best most memorable days out are the ones that are pretty much completely unplanned. I had originally planned some domestic exploring with a group of friends, however one of them spotted that a rare opportunity to photograph the inside of the famous Aegidium Theatre (latterly cinema) in Brussels had come up for the same day. So with very little in the way of thought we all agreed that heading to Belgium for the day was a most excellent way to spend a Saturday. The domestic exploring was sacked off and a ferry to Dunkirk was rapidly booked for a few days later, leaving at an ungodly time in the morning in order to afford us plenty of time to arrive at the building for 10.45am.

The problem for me was that I get up for work at 4.45am, so I had to slog through a full day of work, go home, have a quick shower, throw my camera stuff together, and then get picked up by my more northern friend on the way to Reading to meet my other friends. From there, we left their house at 11pm, collected another friend in Epsom, and made tracks for Dover. We arrived with quite literally minutes to spare before an earlier ferry departed, so we were shovelled onto that one which afforded us a lot more time in the morning after landing at Dunkirk, which was a big win. By this point, I was flagging a bit, and my 'breakfast' of an admittedly very nice chicken escalope and chips at 4am did help to wake me up somewhat. We disembarked in Dunkirk at 5am France time and made tracks to Belgium, stopping off along the way at a couple of things I had pinned, which sadly turned out to either be demolished or crap - my Belgium map is a good decade out of date which really didn't help. But after arriving in Brussels and having a pit stop in the cafe next door, which used to be part of the lobby for the theatre, we were good to go.

We met up with the keyholder who let us in and gave us a very quick tour of the place, before he left, leaving us with free roam of the building for an hour and a half, when a scheduled historical sites tour (the kind geared towards elderly tourists) would arrive.

The explore

This building is, simply put, an absolute masterpiece of art nouveau design, a style which originated in Brussels, and is quite unlike any derelict building I have ever seen. It's one of those places where even the most mundane parts are photo-worthy, every angle is something you want to take a photo of. After being left locked inside, I wandered around a bit working out where everyone else was to be able to shoot around them. The staircase and upstairs foyer are the undoubted centrepiece of the building, with the skylight illuminating the mirrored walls beautifully, but the actual auditorium is a true marvel, just shrouded in near darkness. During it's time as a community centre owned by a religious organisation, the group painted over all the original gold, red and green details and frescos, which was rediscovered by the new owners and will be an arduous, painstaking task to remove, but worth it. At some point, a concrete ceiling was installed in the salon, which gives it a very odd aspect, and created an 'upstairs' area in the void above which contains the original skylights for the room. This ceiling is planned to be removed during the restoration, however according to the keyholder, there are fears doing so will destabilise parts of the building as it's such a massive lump of concrete.

I wandered around faintly awestruck in a sleep-deprived state for 90 minutes, remembering how much I love Belgium all the time - it's been over nine years since my last exploring trip to the continent and I miss it very much. All too soon the time was up, and we were let out onto the streets of Brussels, where we immediately made for the friterie on the other side of the road, ate some delicious food, and headed home via a carrefour where I loaded up on chocomel and Milka bars. We made it to the 6pm ferry with minutes to spare, and I was home in bed at just before midnight on Saturday, having been awake for 44 hours straight. An utterly ridiculous way to spend a Saturday but absolutely worth the sleep deprivation, which lead to some truly hilarious moments for all of us along the way as we slowly lost our minds.