Number 20, Rue Royale/Koningsstraat is home to the headquarters of BNP Paribas Fortis (formerly Société Générale de Belgique/Generale Maatschappij van België). This building, bearing witness to the bank’s place in Belgium’s social and economic history, forms part of the former Générale/Generale complex erected between 1968 and 1980 on the site of a group of neoclassical houses between Rue Baron Horta/Baron Hortastraat, Rue Ravenstein/Ravensteinstraat and Rue Montagne du Parc/Warandeberg. Strongly influenced by neoclassicism, it was built by Hugo Van Kuyck in the years between 1965 and 1969 and has a number of reception rooms decorated with portraits and 18th-century tapestries. For the Heritage Days, not only will you be able to admire some of our most delightful heritage items, you will also have the chance to discover the old bank vault created by Jules Wabbes. As well as being the renowned Belgian designer’s last major project, this represents the final relict of the old functionalist Rue Montagne du Parc/Warandeberg building. This architectural gem has a sober and pared-down design drawing on refined materials, typical of Wabbes, who used Italian granite for the floors and wall coverings, bronze for the lamps and furniture, and gilded aluminium on the ceiling with a fish scale pattern that reflects indirect light onto the walls. Featuring allusions to Ancient Egypt, this extraordinary, monumental structure feels more like a sanctuary than a vault.