Belgium

A new tunnel links the stage and the workshop of La Monnaie

This picture taken on February 1, 2017 in Paris shows a journalist reading the February 1, 2017 issue of French satirical newspaper "Le Canard Enchaine", with a headline relating to French presidential election candidate for the right-wing Les Republicains (LR) party Francois Fillon allegedly giving his wife fake jobs and reading "Francois Fillon protests in front of investigators: "But since I tell Penelope didn't do anything!"". Fillon on February 1 hit back at fresh claims he paid his family huge sums for doing "fake jobs", accusing the incumbent Socialist government of mounting what he called an "institutional coup d'etat". The scandal, which first erupted last week, is pulling down Fillon's campaign, with a new poll showing that the former PM, who for weeks was the frontrunner in the race, would now be eliminated in the first round of the election in April. The Canard Enchaine newspaper reported on February 1, 2017 that Fillon had arranged for his wife Penelope to be paid around 830,000 euros ($900,000) as a parliamentary aide for more than a decade. / AFP / CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT (Photo credit should read CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images)

Published on

2019-10-22

The tunnel under Leopold Street, that links the La Monnaie’ stage and workshop, is completed. Until this moment, the two buildings, located on the two sides of Leopold Street, were separated by 100 meters, making the transport of sets tedious. Now, the actors have direct access to sets and costumes.

The tunnel was one of the many projects supported by Beliris, the cooperation agreement between the Brussels Region and the federal state in order to reinforce the role of Brussels as the Belgian and European capital. “No more complex transportation schedules, loads and unloads, and tow truck rides at peak times. “With an average of 250 m3 of scenery to transport for each production, it is the entire organization of shows that benefits from this new infrastructure”, Beliris said in a statement.

In addition, the construction of a roof extension to store the costumes was announced. An extension of 350 m2 on two levels on the roof of the Ateliers du Théâtre, which light structure, made of metal beams, will be invisible from the road. The construction will begin in mid-October.

As if that wasn’t enough, during the works, the construction team made a discovery. “We knew there was an archaeological heritage because there was a Dominican cloister in the 15th century,” says Patricia Vervenne, project manager for Beliris.”As soon as the tombs and ancient foundations were discovered, we informed the archaeology department of the Brussels Region, with whom we worked closely so that they could excavate and record everything”.

Source: brussels-express.eu