CINEMATEK, Museum of Cinema
While most people can easily define what a museum or library is, understanding the purpose and mission of a “Cinémathèque” or Film Archive can be more complicated. What does the term “Cinémathèque” mean, and what role does it play? What happens behind its doors once the projectors are turned off and the audience has left? In two articles, CINEMATEK will explore its dual role – both as a museum and on its mission of preservation and restoration. We will share the history of our spaces and invite you to explore them through an online immersive 3D tour.
Film archives emerged in the 1930s, during a period of growing awareness about the loss of silent films and the importance of preserving and collecting these works. In Belgium, it was in 1938 that Henri Storck, André Thirifays, and Pierre Vermeylen founded the Film Archive, which, under the leadership of Jacques Ledoux, would become the Royal Film Archive of Belgium some twenty years later.
The Royal Film Archive of Belgium, Belgium’s principal film archive, is dedicated to preserving not only films but also everything related to the history of cinema: vintage posters, on-set photographs, promotional materials, scripts, correspondence, outlines, as well as pre-cinema inventions (magic lanterns, phenakistoscopes, zoetrope’s, and other flip books) and projection equipment.
As a place of memory and heritage, the film archive is committed to passing on and presenting this invaluable collection to the public, allowing them to explore 130 years of cinematic history through the cinema museum and the documentation center.
Shortly after the creation of The Royal Film Archive of Belgium, in 1938, screening initiatives began to multiply. By 1944, the “Écran du Séminaire des Arts” was offering a dozen annual screenings in the Henry Le Boeuf Hall at the prestigious Palais des Beaux-Arts. These screenings were met with great success. Gradually, the idea of creating a museum took shape, and Jacques Ledoux collaborated with architect Constantin Brodzki and artist Corneille Hannoset to design every detail, from the exhibition space to the seating and the graphic design of the programs. The work lasted five years, and the museum was inaugurated in 1962. Five years later, a permanent exhibition space opened. For forty years, cinephiles, aspiring filmmakers, and established directors came to feed their passion and discover the treasures of the film archive’s collections.
In January 2009, after two and a half years of renovation, the Museum of Cinema reopened its doors under the new name CINEMATEK.
CINEMATEK is open to everyone year-round, offering multiple daily screenings. Film projections are the core of the museum’s activities, complemented by exhibitions – a permanent one in the WUNDERKAMMER, which displays early cinema artifacts, and temporary exhibitions centered around current programming. The museum also offers a wide range of educational activities, aimed at both young and adult audiences, contextualizing this already diverse range of activities.
Screenings take place every day of the year in CINEMATEK’s two screening rooms. The larger one is named ‘Ledoux’, in tribute to the first curator of the film archive from 1948 to 1988, Jacques Ledoux. The smaller room is named ‘Plateau’, after Joseph Plateau, a Belgian scientist considered one of the pioneers of cinema with the invention of the phenakistiscope. Built in 1982, this room was originally the only cinema in the world not equipped with sound. Since the 2009 reopening, Plateau can now accommodate all types of films, though it is still primarily used for silent film screenings. Both rooms have space for a pianist to accompany silent film sessions, a unique and cherished feature of the institution. The projection booth is equipped with both analog and digital projectors, making CINEMATEK one of the last places in Belgium where you can still watch a film on celluloid.
CINEMATEK has created a virtual tour of its museum, screening rooms, and projection booth. You can explore the Art Deco hall designed by Victor Horta that houses the museum, admire the pieces that were part of the 2021 temporary exhibition dedicated to Jacques Ledoux, or delve into the history of pre-cinema in the WUNDERKAMMER. If you head down, you can discover our two screening rooms, Ledoux and Plateau, and have fun guessing all the films decorating the walls of our projection booth.
Preserving audiovisual heritage and allowing the public to enjoy a work in the best possible conditions, whether in its original format or restored, are the primary missions of a film archive. Seeing the original 35mm print of a well-known or lesser-known cinematic masterpiece on the big screen will always be a uniquely sensory experience, unlike any other.
- This virtual tour was created with the support of visit.brussels.
