18. Ernest Salu’s Private House and Studio

If you look closely at the graves, sculptures and monuments in the Laeken Cemetery, you will notice that several were designed by E. Salu.  In the shadow of the Church of Our Lady, no fewer than three generations of the Salu family (Ernest Salu I, Ernest Salu II and Ernest Salu III) had their atelier specializing in funerary sculpture.  After starting with the Neoclassical façade on Rue Léopold I, the visit first takes you by the 19th-century living quarters which over time have been adapted to the personal tastes of the different Salu generations. The visit continues through the light-filled winter garden to the actual atelier, including the room where clients were received, the workshop where time seems to have stood still, and Ernest Salu III’s office as he left it in the late 1980s.  Since 1987, the non-profit funerary heritage association Epitaaf manages this wondrous place full of fascinating sculptures, tombstones and plaster models.  In a few years’ time, after having been thoroughly restored by the association, the home should also officially open as a museum. The tour is conducted by the guides of Epitaaf vzw.