Royal Observatory

The first Belgian Observatory was located in Sint-Joost-ten-Node (1833). However, urbanization and increased nighttime lighting made observations there increasingly difficult. Moreover, the arsenal of instruments had expanded to such an extent that the building became too small. The Observatory found a new, more suitable location on the remote summit of the Groeselenberg in Uccle.

Construction began in 1883. Due to budgetary problems and political interference, things did not go smoothly. At one point, then-director Jean-Charles Houzeau even offered his resignation. However, the original design by the young architect Octave Van Rysselberghe (brother of the famous painter Theo) largely materialized.

The director and officials lived on-site, in the buildings to the left and right of the entrance. The new observatory was indeed far from the inhabited world. Today, the buildings house three different institutions: the Royal Observatory, the KMI, and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA), where Dirk Frimout worked. The whole complex was renamed Space Pole in 2018.

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