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The
Eggevoorde
Estate
had
dominated
the
Maelbeek
valley
in
Brussels
since
the
Middle
Ages,
but
portions
had
been
sold
off
in
the
following
centuries.
In
1851,
a
portion
was
sold
off
in
exchange
for
shares
in
the
Zoological
and
Horticultural
Society,
and
the
area
became
what
is
today
Leopold
Park.
The
park
was
intended
to
be
a
home
for
scientific
and
leisure
activities.
Horticultural
gardens
and
a
zoo
were
created
along
with
a
community
hall,
a
reading
room,
and
a
café-restaurant.
However,
the
zoo
was
poorly
managed
and
the
management
company
went
bankrupt
in
1876.
The
horticultural
gardens
on
the
other
hand
were
quite
successfully
managed
by
Jean
Jules
Linden,
and
they
became
a
commercial
and
scientific
success
story
until
1898,
when
they
were
sold.
The
City
of
Brussels
bought
the
old
zoological
gardens
and
converted
them
into
a
public
recreational
park
containing
a
variety
of
diversions,
including
the
current
Museum
of
Natural
Sciences.
The
1927
Solvay
Conference
in
Brussels
was
the
fifth
world
physics
conference.
In
1884,
Ernest
Solvay
and
Paul
Héger,
professors
at
the
Université
Libre
de
Bruxelles
began
a
project
to
create
an
expanded
university
campus
in
the
park.
Several
of
the
university's
new
institutes
were
created
in
the
park,
and
stand
to
this
day,
including
the
original
site
of
the
Solvay
Institute
of
Sociology,
as
well
as
its
sister
institution,
the
Solvay
Institute
of
Physiology,
which
was
completed
in
1894.
It
was
in
that
building
that
the
famous
Fifth
Solvay
Conference
on
Physics
and
on
Chemistry
took
place
in
October
1927.
During
the
following
years,
a
campus
for
the
Solvay
School
of
Commerce
was
established
but
construction
of
additional
buildings
was
soon
curtailed
for
fear
of
encroachment
on
the
park
and
its
fragile
wildlife.
In
1930,
the
Lycée
Émile
Jacqmain
secondary
school
moved
into
the
former
Institute
of
Physiology.
These
buildings
have
remained
to
this
day
but
only
one
still
belongs
to
Solvay
(and
houses
the
Solvay
Conference).
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