The Atelier de Moulage owes its origin to the convention to promote the universal reproduction of works of art, intended to support museums in all countries and which was signed at The World Exhibition in Paris in 1867. The agreement envisaged the exchange of collected art treasures between the respective countries – among which was the easy replication of sculptures by means of moulds and casts.

    Beginning in 1883, a collection of exchange plaster figures from European museums found their place in the Musée des Echanges in the Parc du Cinquantenaire. In 1888 the collection „Monumental Art“ from the Museum for Arts and Crafts was added. Under the leadership of Henri Rousseau, who made further purchases, a merger was concluded in 1893. In a time before the spread of photography and affordable travel for the population at large the extensive collection of casts in the Palais du Cinquantenaire
provided a possibility to show foreign art at home. In the Musée des Echanges the middle classes were shown an exemplary selection of Art- and Culture replicas.

  The casts were not considered as cheap substitutes for far away  original works. People believed that a good cast in fact represented the original. There was a general aesthetic preference for the white structureless plaster as an ideal of the pure form and as an expression of true beauty. The Section d’art monumental flourished up to the 1930s.

      The casts gradually became considered more and more as symbols of antiquated art and educational concept. People were no longer interested in copies. They wanted to see the originals. The museum in Brussels was vacated to make room for another exhibition. Many pieces of the former exhibition were damaged or were lost during the clearance.

   Apart from the impressive facts and figures, the Atelier du Moulage remains a magical place of fragile charm. Not simply a museum, but a chamber of marvels that invites the visitor on an inimitable journey of discovery.