Temple of Human Passions

The "Temple des passions humaines" (in French), or "Tempel van de menselijke driften" (in Dutch) is a pavilion in the form of a temple designed and built by Victor Horta at the Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels.It was designed to serve as a permanent showcase for a large marble relief by Jef Lambeaux that depicts the human passions.This work of art had been very controversial at the time of its first presentation (1886) because it also depicted the "negative" passions of mankind such as war and rape. The unveiled way in which Lambeaux depicted the male and female nude was also highly debated.Horta first designed an open temple — without the wall and bronze doors behind the colonnade — so that the relief would always be visible for passers-by (including children). Under pressure of the public opinion and the authorities Horta had to alter his plans. Since the 19th century the building was almost permanently closed. In recent years this was not due to the prudish public, but out of fear for vandalism.

The edifice shows the first steps of the young Victor Horta towards Art Nouveau architecture. He designed an almost "organic" interpretation of a classical temple, without completely abolishing any reference to an historical style.After World War I Horta would return to this "classicism" in his designs for the Centre for Fine Arts and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tournai.