Schaarbeek Gate

The Schaarbeekse Poort was chosen in 1864 as the starting point for a balloon flight by Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, alias Nadar. The components of the hot air balloon were spread out on the floor in the nearby glass palace of the Kruidtuin. Previously, Nadar had already made several flights with his balloon in Paris, above the Champ de Mars. Now he was here to celebrate the Belgian national holidays (which were still celebrated in the fall at that time). Among the guests were Leopold I, Jules Anspach (the then mayor of Brussels), and writer Charles Baudelaire. Nadar made use of crowd barriers to ensure the safety of bystanders. Even today, people in Belgium refer to a nadarafsluiting. The man himself could not laugh at this name and even wrote a letter about it to the Belgian king.

Dromos