La Patinoire Royale | Galerie Valerie Bach

La Patinoire royale, or « Royal Skating », as the Belgians used to call it, was built in 1877 in the heart of the Saint- Gilles district. The neo-classical style building was originally used as a roller skating rink, one of the first in Europe ! Before long, these small wheels made way for much larger ones when the building was converted into a Bugatti garage in 1900. Five years later, it became a depot belonging to the national war weapons factory located in Herstal. After the Second World War, the skating rink was used as a garage by Siemens before becoming an exhibition space for collectors’ cars in 1975. The Brussels Region declared the Patinoire royale a historical monument in 1995.