DE VOORUIT ON THE BELGIAN INDICATIVE LIST FOR UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE
After an extensive global research phase, six countries have been working for some time on a World Heritage nomination around Workers' Assembly Halls: working-class houses linked to the labor movement. Feestlokaal Vooruit in Ghent has been on the international shortlist from the very beginning.
The ambition is initially to have a series of working-class houses that testify convincingly about the labor movement and their impact in the 19th and 20th centuries recognized as World Heritage Sites. The underlying idea, then, is that there is no single working-class house that is sufficiently representative to tell the global story of Workers' Assembly Halls.
The following buildings are nominated for that first World Heritage recognition:
- Argentina: headquarters CGT in Buenos Aires
- Australia: Victoria Trades Hall (Melbourne) & Broken Hill Trades Hall
- Belgium: Feestlokaal Vooruit (Ghent)
- Denmark: Arbejdermuseet (Copenhagen) - project leader
- Finland: Paasitorni (Helsinki)
- United Kingdom: Durham Miners' Hall
“Ghent's Vooruit has been recognized and protected as a monument by the Flemish Community since 1983. It remains a meaningful place for over 300,000 visitors every year. They come there for concerts, performances, nightlife events, talks and spoken word. Being able to do this in a magnificent 1913 monument that may be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site strengthens the appeal of arts center VIERNULVIER. No other art center in Flanders has such a rich and internationally networked history. We make that history maximally visible in our program and in the many tours.”
- Franky Devos general coordinator VIERNULVIER
De Vooruit ondergaat momenteel een grondige restauratie. De voorbouw met de Balzaal, Domzaal, twee repetitiestudio’s, inkomzone en centrale trappenhal worden met zorg gerestaureerd en aangepast aan de actuele noden op vlak van duurzaamheid en toegankelijkheid. Zo komt er ook een nieuwe lift centraal in het gebouw.
Die werken zijn klaar tegen eind 2025. Intussen blijven de Theaterzaal, de Concertzaal en het VIERNULVIER café open. Daarnaast programmeert VIERNULVIER ook in De Minard, de nieuwe Club Wintercircus en een pand in Shopping Zuid.