Cercle Royal Gaulois

Located in the Royal Park, the building that houses the Cercle Royal Gaulois is part of the former Vauxhall, an establishment offering entertainment to the middle classes in eighteenth-century Brussels. Built in 1782 in the North-Eastern part of the park, the Brussels Vauxhall included a circular theatre and a rectangular dance hall and café-restaurant linked by a gallery, plus some smaller buildings housing luxury shops. The current Cercle Royal Gaulois building was built in two phases and includes two large rooms, a vestibule, a royal lounge and a library. The Lorraine Room is the oldest part of the building. It was designed by architect Louis Montoyer and was completed in 1782, under the Austrian regime. In 1820, the Caryatids Room was added, designed by architect Charles Vander Straeten in the Neo-Classical style and decorated with Ionic and Corinthian features. The royal lounge was built at the same time and bears this name because it was sometimes used by King Baudouin to receive foreign heads of state during state visits.