The Cercle de Lorraine or Club van Lotharingen is a Belgian business club, located in Brussels, Belgium. The Cercle, founded in 1998, is home to members from the country's two main linguistic communities. It is a place of meeting and networking for, in particular, the leaders of private and public companies, the liberal professions and the personalities of the academic and political world. It is to this multidisciplinary community that the Cercle brings a tool of exchange through various activities combining work and leisure in an exceptional place. The combination of the quality restaurant, the terrace during the summer and the bar allows you to imagine all types of meetings, from one-on-one to the event of 1,000 covers, through those offered by the modularity of 12 salons. The latter can be "privatized" for the benefit of a member and his guests for lunch, dinner or breakfast.
History
The Cercle de Lorraine began its activities in the Château Fond'Roy, located on the Avenue du Prince d'Orange in Uccle, on April 23, 1998. Founded as an association, it was founded at the initiative of a group of private partners and focused on the baptismal fonts with the friendly support of some of the most emblematic personalities of the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking economic and financial community of the country. Twelve years later, on August 30, 2010, the Cercle experienced a "second birth" by moving into its new headquarters in the city center: The Palace of the Princes of Merode...
The Palace of the Princes of Merode
Located in the heart of the "city", the former palace of the princes of Merode has been the subject of a luxurious renovation and transformations to adapt to the specific needs of our members. In this stronghold of the Duchy of Brabant since the Middle Ages, it was in 1618 that the Duke Alexandre de Bournonville and his wife Anne de Melun had several buildings they had transformed in front of the "Wollen Dries" in a vast palace of Renaissance style. In the eighteenth century, the heirs of the Duke of Bournonville resold the property to the counts of Merode-Westerloo, became princes, which yielded it in 1954 to a real estate company. The latter entrusted in 2008 the keys of this exceptional heritage to the Cercle de Lorraine, aware that this institution was the best able to give the palace of Bournonville its former glory. The palace of Bournonville has left its mark in the history of the figurative arts. At different times, personalities who have left their names in history have occupied the palace: Marie de Medicis and Olympe Mancini, mother of Prince Eugene of Savoy, in the early eighteenth century and, at the end of that century, the Count of Coblenz and the Prince of Starhenberg who, in the eighteenth century, administered the country under the Austrian regime.
Today
The aim of the Cercle is to bring together representatives of the industrial and financial world of Belgium, both French-speaking and Dutch-speaking. The institution has recently opened to the international community, to be a relay of the image of Belgium in the EU and the world. The aim of the Cercle de Lorraine is to present itself as an exceptional place, reserved for the most representative personalities of the business world, political and economic representatives, diplomatic staff as well as a certain number of professionals. All members have been approved by a Boating Committee. In October 2016, the Cercle de Lorraine set up a new governance, with an enlarged General Assembly and a new Board of Directors. In April 2016, the Cercle de Lorraine presented to the press and its members its new strategic plan to install it more than ever as the reference Cercle of business men and women in the capital of Europe. The Cercle intends to develop as a place for exchanges and meetings and to be more open to Dutch-speaking people, women leaders and executives of companies, young entrepreneurs and the international community present in Brussels. Since then, the Cercle of Lorraine is considered as The Business Club in Brussels.
Activities at the Cercle
Conference lunch
Two to three times a month, the Cercle welcomes a prominent person from the financial, economic or political world for a luncheon, followed by a presentation and a question and answer session. Conference lunches are open to members, their guests and juniors.
Lunch meeting
The lunch meeting is a privileged meeting with a personality, known in the academic world, economic, financial or political, during a lunch. This activity is organized several times a month and open to members and their guests and juniors.
Diplomatic table
The Cercle organizes, several times a year, "diplomatic tables" during which its members have the privilege of meeting the main ambassadors stationed in Brussels. This activity is open to members and their guests and juniors.
Diverse activities
In a more festive mode, wine tastings and friendly cocktails are organized regularly and allow members to meet in a casual and informal way. This activity is open to members, their guests and juniors.
Literary lunch
To follow the literary news, the Cercle invites writers and authors of books making the economic, geopolitical, cultural, media or political headlines. This activity is open to members and their guests and juniors.
Business tables
Business tables covering the news of a specific sector such as real estate, taxation or the media are also organized on a regular basis, under the guidance of a member accompanied by an expert speaker on the subject.
