The document discusses how Belgian seaside resorts in the 19th and early 20th centuries branded themselves as exotic playgrounds for the bourgeoisie through the use of imagery. It focuses on how resort towns like Blankenberghe and Ostend used architecture inspired by Moorish styles from Spain and North Africa to portray an orientalist fantasy to visitors. Specific examples analyzed include the evolution of the Kursaal buildings in Blankenberghe and Ostend between 1852 and 1900, which were described in historical sources as recreating the luxury and splendor of places like the Alhambra palace through their lavish decor and exotic motifs.

1. The story of an orientalist daydream: The use of images in branding the Belgian seaside resorts as exotic playgrounds for the 19 th and early 20 th -century bourgeoisie, and its importance as historical evidence for the present day. Davy Depelchin, Ghent University Belgium

2. Blankenberghe, anno 2008.

3. Blankenberghe, 1900-1914.

4. A brief history of the Belgian coastline in modern times

6. Branding seaside resorts: the iconographic display of exotic coast architecture.

7. “ On ne dispute pas plus du choix d’une ville de bains, qu’on ne dispute des goûts .” “ We don’t quarrel less about the choice of a watering place, than we quarrel about taste.” DIABLORA, Grains de sable, in: Le Phare de Blankenberghe, vol. 9, 1863, nr. 12, September 20th, p. 3.

11. “ We look to our buildings to hold us, like a kind of psychological mould, to a helpful vision of ourselves.” A. DE BOTTON, The architecture of happiness, London, Penguin Books, 2007, p. 107.

12. Reconstructing the seafront: case-studies.

13. Blankenberghe: an evolutionary sketch of the Kursaal (1859-1900).

16. Date: August 3th 1863 = Terminus antequem transformations

20. Ostend: the successive (Casino-)Kursaals (1852-1907).

21. “ The room is treated in the purest Moorish style. We could imagine being in a room of the Alhambra or some other palace of Murcia or Grenade. Its thousands of gildings, its thousands of colours, its mosaics, without number blind you by their splendour, so rich and marvellous is it. Everything in the space possesses a luxury and comfort which leaves nothing else to desire, and its divans with their splendid Algerian broad stripped cloths have the nicest effect.” J.B. LAUWERS, Description de la ville d’Ostende, de son origine et son histoire , in: La Flandre Maritime , vol. 6, 1855, August 15th, p. 1.

23. “ The room is treated in the purest Moorish style. We could imagine being in a room of the Alhambra or some other palace of Murcia or Grenade. Its thousands of gildings , its thousands of colours , its mosaics, without number blind you by their splendour , so rich and marvellous is it. Everything in the space possesses a luxury and comfort which leaves nothing else to desire, and its divans with their splendid Algerian broad stripped cloths have the nicest effect.” J.B. LAUWERS, Description de la ville d’Ostende, de son origine et son histoire , in: La Flandre Maritime , vol. 6, 1855, August 15th, p. 1.

25. “ This new Kursaal will be a very beautiful thing, for it is allowed to judge; its dimensions are vast and elegant; the Moorish style dominates, small towers, ornaments of all sorts. A real caravansarai .” Chronique locale , in: L’Echo d’Ostende , vol. 13, 1877, August 12th, p. 2. “ Everything twinkles, everything reflects. The seafront and its superb palaces with marble caryatids; the little towers of the villas; the Moorish palace of the Kursaal […]” Chronique, in: La Saison d’Ostende , vol. 9, 1886, August 7th, p. 1. “ […] the Kursaal. That beautiful building in Moorish style […]” La Saison à Ostende, in: Le Carillon, vol. 3, 1898, February 19th-20th, pp. 1-2.

29. Conclusions