It was there that the enthronement ceremony of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, King of the Belgians, took place on 21 July 1831, fifty years after its construction.

In 1951, the façades and porticoes lining the Place Royale were recognised for their architectural and historical interest, and were definitively protected from any modification by a classification order on the Belgian Heritage List.

The importance of René Magritte's collection and his international renown merited a space dedicated to communicating the artist and his work.

In 2007, plans were drawn up for a future Magritte Museum in the Hôtel du Lotto, and work began the following year, with completion scheduled for 2009.

[4][5] Additionally, the museum includes Magritte's experiments with photography from 1920 on and the short surrealist films he made from 1956 on.