Abstract
This contribution focuses on the Galeries Saint-Hubert as a meeting place in fin de siècle Brussels. With their luxurious shops, societies and coffee houses, arcades had become important meeting places for the bourgeoisie in many fin de siècle cities. In this contribution, I argue that the arcade formed a much more encompassing social nexus. The comfortable pavement, glazed roof, shops and entertainment venues did indeed draw respectable audiences. Yet, the bourgeoisie also encountered people from outside their own social circle. Although it is difficult to assess the extent of their social interaction, people of different social backgrounds at least passively encountered ‘the other’ in the arcade. Many of them might have crossed without noticing, but many of them interacted more intensively by looking at each other, bumping into each other or by talking over the shop counters and at the tables in the cafés and restaurants. Because it was a public space that was brightly lit and rain-proof, offering the free entertainment of window displays and crowds, the arcade attracted people of very different social standing. While only some of them met there deliberately, the social diversity of the crowds was part of the attraction for most visitors.
