Léon Suys
Encyclopedia
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
architect.
Suys's father Tilman-François Suys
Tilman-François Suys
Tilman-François Suys or Tieleman Frans Suys , was a Belgian architect who also worked in the Netherlands....
was the architect of King Leopold I
Leopold I of Belgium
Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
, and the founder of the Belgian Royal Commission of Sites and Monuments, of which his friend François-Joseph Navez
François-Joseph Navez
François-Joseph Navez was a Belgian neo-classical painter.A pupil of Jacques-Louis David, he spent five years in Italy between 1817 and 1822. Between 1835 and 1862 he was the director of the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.He was a very successful portrait painter...
was also a member. Navez often used the young Léon as a model for his paintings, including Jeune garçon songeur (1831) and Léon Suys et ses deux sœurs.
Léon Suys was the author, in 1865, of the plans to cover and divert the Senne
Covering of the Senne
The covering of the Senne was one of the defining events in the history of Brussels. The Senne/Zenne was historically the main waterway of Brussels, but it became more polluted and less navigable as the city grew. By the second half of the 19th century, it had become a serious health hazard and...
(Zenne) river in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, a defining event in the history of the city. As part of this, he designed the modern courses of Brussels' central boulevards, and several other monumental public buildings related to the project, including the Brussels Stock Exchange
Brussels Stock Exchange
The Brussels Stock Exchange was founded in Brussels, Belgium, by Napoleonic decree in 1801. On September 22, 2000, the BSE merged with Paris Bourse, Lisbon Stock Exchange and the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, to form Euronext N.V., the first pan-European exchange for equities and derivatives,...
, the Great Central Halls (demolished in 1956), and the reconstruction of the Greater Sluice Gate at the south of the city.
He also designed the buildings of the thermal baths in Spa, Belgium
Spa, Belgium
Spa is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liège. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountain chain, some southeast of Liège, and southwest of Aachen. As of 1 January 2006, Spa had a total population of 10,543...
, built between 1862 and 1868. Suys is buried in Laeken Cemetery
Laeken Cemetery
The Laeken Cemetery , located in Laeken in the northern part of Brussels, is one of the major cemeteries in Belgium.-Description:...
.