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Legendary Brussels bar Dolle Mol reopens

17:42 19/10/2018

The legendary Dolle Mol bar on Rue des Eperonniers in the heart of Brussels’ city centre reopened on Friday night for the first time in three years. Known as an anarchist space, the café has a long, rich history in the capital.

Writer Herman J Claeys first opened the bar in 1968. It quickly became a hub for writers, artists and free-thinkers to turn on, tune in and drop out. Supporting a bookshop and library, it became the place in Belgium for the anarchist crowd and also saw international luminaries pass through its doors, like Tom Waits and Bob Dylan.

It folded in 2006 and was revived by enfant terrible filmmaker Jan Bucquoy. It was here that he opened his (in)famous Underpants Museum. In 2015, the bar closed again. (The underpants collection is safe in Lessines.)

The new collective running the Dolle Mol promises a full agenda of cultural activities inside its renovated walls, including concerts, exhibitions, readings and cinema. “And a lot more,” a spokesperson told Bruzz. “We’ll do this with Brussels artists who come directly from our multi-cultural and layered society, with all its nationalities, genre, opinions and differences.”

This is the fourth such attempt in three years to resuscitate the space, however, so fingers crossed.

Photo: Dolle Mol/Facebook

 

Written by Lisa Bradshaw