Salle philharmonique de Liège, Concert hall and theatre in Liège, Belgium.
Salle philharmonique de Liège is a concert hall and theatre in Belgium with a symmetrical design that centers around a prominent projection on the exterior. The interior is divided into several sections: stalls, a balcony, three tiers of boxes, and a gallery area that provides additional seating capacity.
Designed from 1878 by city official Louis Boonen, then taken over by Laurent Demany, the hall was inaugurated on 30 April 1887 after more than fifty years of petitions to the authorities. It was restored from 1998 to 2000, and on its reopening in September 2000 Jean-Pierre Rousseau proposed renaming it Salle philharmonique, since it was now run by the Orchestre philharmonique royal de Liège.
The hall's name changed in September 2000, when Jean-Pierre Rousseau proposed calling it "Salle philharmonique" because the Orchestre philharmonique royal de Liège had taken over its management. The stage carries wall paintings by Edgar Scauflaire from 1954, allegories of the Liège composers André Grétry and César Franck.
The hall seats 1,162 in an Italian-style horseshoe plan, with stalls, a balcony, three tiers of boxes and a gallery. The entrance is on boulevard Piercot, where the 46-metre facade is centred on a projecting avant-corps with three arched doorways. Seats in the boxes and gallery sit furthest from the stage.
The stage is decorated with murals painted by Edgar Scauflaire in 1954, allegories of the Liège composers André Grétry and César Franck. The dome above the auditorium carries ten canvases by Émile-Édouard Berchmans on the theme of Apollo and the nine Muses.
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