< nr. 87 >

Stocletpaleis

Year: 1911

The showpiece of the Wiener Werkstatte (Viennese Workshop). In 1905, the architect Hoffman and his team started building the palace and they completed it six years later. All pieces were made in Vienna and subsequently transported to Brussels, where the palace can be found. Hoffman was given a carte blanche for this commission and an unlimited budget. Even today, it is still not known what the cost of building the palace was.

The Stoclet Palace is a so-called 'Gesamtkunstwerk': architecture, furniture and the garden are all inextricable linked to form the whole of this piece of art. In June 2009, it was designated as a world heritage site UNESCO.

The palace is not accessible to the public and after the death of the last occupant, the Stoclet's daughter-in-law, in 2002, the only person that has been inside is the caretaker. But even when they were still alive, visitors were not able to view the palace, in order to preserve the interior as much as possible. Even scientists were and are still refused entry and those few visitors who have been inside are sworn to secrecy.

Currently, there are three heirs who own the palace between them.