"Jacques Moeschal's "Arrow of Civil Engineering
“My sculpture consisted of two great steel blades, two 80-metre-high arrows that flared skywards to form the Churchill V (… )”.
Jacques Moeschal
In 1958, Jacques Moeschal achieved a major milestone: the Flèchedu Génie civil, designed for the Brussels World Fair. This is a reinforced concrete construction designed to support a footbridge showing a relief map of Belgium. The composition, whose spire is 80 metres long and whose tip rises 36 metres from the ground, is counterbalanced by a suspended hall in the shape of a 30-metre equilateral triangle, supported by two crutches resting on a foundation. Architect Jean van Doosselaere and engineer André Paduart were initially regarded as the initiators of this feat. But in June 1958, the architect had to admit: “the spire is a plastic idea of Moeschal’s, which I put on plan and which Paduart calculated in concrete”. Clearly, the formal invention was Moeschal’s, and the proof lies in earlier works: a Sculpture from 1948, purchased in 1959 by the Province of Brabant, whose cut-out on the right-hand side is that formulated by the spire, and, on the other hand, the ascending forms of the Project for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner , 1951. To quote Moeschal: “My sculpture consisted of two great steel blades, two 80-metre-high arrows that flared skywards, forming the Churchill V (… ). The Civil Engineering Arrow was in fact one of these blades, but more inclined and made of concrete”.
By 1966, this remarkable work had been condemned and dynamited. But not the sculptor, nor his spirit, nor his will. The virus of what I would call architectonic sculpture had taken possession of the man.
Source: Philippe Robert-Jones
Art and parking lots: Jacques Moeschal, modern-day sculptor
Do you know the link between a parking company and one of the most famous Belgian sculptors of his generation? Answer: his logo. So here’s the story of Jacques Moeschal, his work and some of the sculptures you’ll be able to admire in our Belgian parking lots.
Jacques Moeschal (1913-2004) is a famous figure in the world of monumentalist architecture and sculpture. He was born in Uccle during the First World War. His name may not mean anything to you, but you’re bound to have come across one or other of his creations.
In the center of Brussels, for example, in the Porte de Namur traffic circle, or on our freeways with the “signal” at Grand-Bigard. Another masterpiece is located at the Hensies border crossing on the Brussels-Paris route. Here, two immense twin pylons are erected; the embrace of their stylized hands symbolizes the friendship between France and Belgium. Our country is home to many of these sculptures, which have been exported across the seas, even finding their way to downtown Mexico City! A simple Google search will give you the measure of his international work.
From house to parking lot
But let’s go back a few decades, to Brussels, where Moeschal was both a student architect and an academy teacher. In the immediate post-war years, and throughout the 1950s, he began his career with various housing projects. At the Brussels World Fair in 1958, he collaborated with architects André Paduart and Jean Van Doosselaere on the famous “flèche du génie civil”, a masterpiece that was sadly destroyed in 1970. This remarkable achievement launched his international career.
From now on, Moeschal will be integrating monumental sculptures into urban sites or other major places in people’s lives. Jacques Moeschal also loves the car, taking to the road and marking out stages with signs that guide, reassure and bear witness to the progress and genius of his time…
And where does Interparking fit in?
The artist created a number of major works for Interparking. Indeed, it was he who came up with the “Consortium des parkings” logo – an intertwined C, D and P. This logo was used on all the company’s letterheads. This logo would be used on all the company’s stationery, and would be revisited many years later to become the current Interparking acronym.
Claude De Clercq, founder of Interparking, called on the artist to create, among other things, the sculptures for the “Deux Portes” parking lot, bas-reliefs for parking lot 58, and for Parking Loi. Moeschal also designed the lintel for the Écuyer parking lot, now located in the Vesting parking lot. Other sculptures now line the edge of Parking P3 at Brussels Airport, as well as at Parking Brucity, Parking Entre-deux-portes and one recently installed at the entrance to Parking Confluence in Namur.
Creating a work of art to adorn the facade of a parking lot was often a challenge that Jacques Moeschal didn’t hesitate to take up. According to renowned art historian Philippe Roberts-Jones, “the aim of such a work was both to conceal what it protected and to be attractive to the eye. Jacques Moeschal brilliantly achieved this with his rigorous geometry”. The next time you come across one of these works at Interparking or elsewhere, you may remember that they contributed to the worldwide renown of Belgian sculpture.