Culture
17:43 20/04/2021
Belgian director Jan Verheyen is preparing to make a new movie about one of the deadliest disasters in Belgian peace-time history: the L’Innovation department store fire of 1967. The fire swept through the chic Brussels department store in minutes, killing 250 people and leaving more than 60 injured.
L’Innovation was the star of Rue Neuve, a multi-storied Art Nouveau building designed by no less than Victor Horta. It opened in 1903, punctuated with many passageways and cubbyholes to “cage” consumers, as Horta himself put it, in keeping with the marketing strategy of the building’s owners.
In the years that followed, the department store was not fully fitted with modern fire safety measures. Gas cannisters were stored on site, and there was no sprinkler system. L’Innovation had also been extended, including a connection with a nearby building, which complicated exit options further.