The Entrance Photo

Photographer’s Note

Here you see the triumphal arch in the Jubel Park, or Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels, Belgium's capitol. This arch was built to serve as a monument to illustrate the glorious past of Brussels. It also was to serve as a new entrance gate to the center for people entering from the eastern side of Brussels, via the newly constructed Tervurenlaan/Avenue de Tervueren.

The arch was planned for the world exhibition of 1880, but would take a long time to be finished. In 1880 only the basis of the colons had been constructed. During the exhibition the rest of the arch was completed with wooden panels. In the following years the construction and completion of the monument was the topic of a continuous battle between the king and the government. The Belgian government actually did not want to spend so much money on an (in their eyes) unnecessary monument. Via private funding (for which the king had provided the money) the arch was finally completed by 1905, just in time for the 75th anniversary of the Belgian independence.
The monument was then also crowned with a quadriga, representing the province of Brabant. The other 8 provinces were symbolized by allegoric statues at the foot of the columns.

On both sides of the arch are 'galleries of the columns' with mosaics representing and glorifying the 'peace-loving nation of Belgium'. These mosaics were made between 1920 and 1932.

Please, do not pay attention of the invisible sky:-))

arth, papagolf21, cmartos, jmdaoudal, elihesamian, supereira, jhm, wilkinsonsg, premels, phi729, bertolucci has marked this note useful

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fooeleen (713) 2005-02-15 14:51

hi Hans, thanks for the note...i've learnt from it. as for the photo, i love the way the plants seem to tilt on way, and the sharp contrast of colors. monumental and classical shot!

arth (1454) 2005-02-15 16:53

Prachtige foto Hans ,zeer mooi in beeld gebracht met de bloemen in de voorgrond ,schept een mooi perspectief en een prachtige diepte .Uiteraard is het een knappe compositie met een goed contrast .Mooi werk

Arthur

papagolf21 (57003) 2005-02-15 17:28

Bonsoir Hans,
Pas de ciel, mais un très beau monument où le quadrige surplombe avec magnificence cet arc de triomphe qui a connu bien des péripéties.
J'aime beaucoup l'avant-plan qui met en valeur cet édifice néo-classique très bien cadré.
Un grand merci pour la note Hans.
Amitiés.
Philippe

cmartos (6086) 2005-02-15 18:25

Hi hans, no need of any sky here. Nice low POV to present this monument. Nic also to oppose thos colored flowers to the grey stone. Excellent and very informative note too, thanks for sharing!

Tue (25608) 2005-02-15 19:26

Good POV and the flowers in front are very nice too!
Well done! :-)

jmdaoudal (82) 2005-02-16 3:30

Majestuous Architecture in your excellent composition with these flowers in front to increase the effect from the vertical lines. Coloured and well framed.
Well done
Jean Michel

elihesamian (26091) 2005-02-16 4:05

Great POV,very beautifully used the flower in F.ground,great note,it's a fine informative shot,Thanks,Hans.
in this angle well composed and I like the colors and details,too.
Ok,I do not pay attention of the invisible sky:))
Yours
M

supereira (9576) 2005-02-16 5:51

Good point of view and prespective.I like the colors,light and sharpness.Great colors and good contrast between them.I like a lot the flowers.Good job!

jhm (83742) 2005-02-16 6:20

Dag Hans,
Een plaats dat iedere Belg wel weet zijn, maar opnieuw die laag genomen foto, waardoor de bloemen mooi tot hun recht komen, en het gebouw op de achterzijde zijn grootheid kan tentoon spreiden, het weer zat een beetje tegen waardoor de hemel net niet de wolken kon laten zien, maar groot werk Hans.
Groeten en bedankt!
John.

wilkinsonsg (8646) 2005-02-16 12:36

Great POV and colours - shame about the sky - still a nice image though :)

joseelias (367) 2005-02-17 5:02

Yes, the sky must have gone in vacations that day… ;-)

Nice POV. I like the low position and the strong colors in the base. Also the details seen in the monument are very interesting. Maybe some correction in the structure right side could be made, although it’s nothing too serious.

Why is only one province represented in the top and the others in the base of the monument?

premels (2400) 2005-02-17 16:09

I rarely saw the place as glorious as that although I worked nearby for years. Probably never looked at it from that angle below the flower bed.
I learned quite a lot from your note. This probably proves that we do not pay attention to things we see everyday, we just take them for granted.

phi729 (2099) 2005-02-17 18:15

Hi Hans :)

Well, I won't pay attention to this "invisible" sky... ;-) Here the low-angle shot greatly highlights this imposing monument. The flowers gives a contrasting and nice foreground to show the building. And your note about the hard completion of this one is very informative, Hans. Well seen, for this presentation.

bertolucci (12022) 2005-02-18 13:29

Hi Hans, mooi werk hier. De hoek waaronder je deze triomfboog genomen hebt -is goed gekoezen - op deze manier is de prachige geometrische binnenkant van de bogen ook goedzichtaar hebt gemaakt. Het gegeven dat deze shot xtra plezierig maakt is het contrast tussen het grijze & monumentale steen en het fris gekleurde bloemstruiken in op de voorgrond - een typerende Hans(sie) compositie. Fijn werk.