BELvue museum
Chips, beer and chocolates... surely there is more to Belgium than that? Democracy, prosperity, solidarity, pluralism, migration, languages and Europe: these are the themes used by the BELvue Museum to help you to discover Belgium. Each one is developed through present-day testimonials and then traced right through history. This is a modern, original way of gaining a fuller understanding of modern-day Belgium.
Have a look at the gallery too: there are more than 200 objects to view, each one forming a tangible memory of Belgium. Here are just a few examples: a lithograph by Magritte, a motorcycle, crystal vases by Val Saint-Lambert, and a football signed by the Red Devils. The very essence of Belgian-ness!
Speciale openingstijden op schoolvakanties en feestdagen 9.30 tot 17.00 uur
24/12 en 31/12 9u30 tot 16u00
Het BELvue Museum is elke woensdag vanaf 14u en de eerste zondag van de maand gratis toegankelijk.
BELvue museum
Art Yi
Located at Monts des Arts Museum area and Brussels-Central station, close to the Grand-Place, Art Yī is a contemporary art gallery that receives millions of international tourists every year and serve art collectors from all over the world.
Art Yī offers a unique experience of contemporary art from different cultures. The gallery showcases a wide selection of sculptures and paintings from Europe and Asia. Founded by Shuo LIU, Art Yī, founded by Shuo LIU, can draw on 40 years of experience.
Art Yi
Coudenberg Palace
Once upon a time, the Coudenberg Palace towered over the city of Brussels. Charles V and many other of the most powerful rulers ever to reign in Europe made this princely residence their home between the 12th and 18th centuries, until it was consumed by a terrible fire. Every trace of this prestigious palace simply disappeared underground for many years. Today, however, these ruins constitute a fascinating archeological site incorporating a network of underground passages and chambers.
When you visit it you can explore the principal buildings of the palace and enjoy a stroll along the Rue Isabelle, which is now underground. In the Coudenberg Museum, located in Hoogstraeten House, the finest of the archeological discoveries made during the various excavations of the Coudenberg site are displayed.
Coudenberg Palace
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium assemble four different museums: the Oldmasters Museum, Meunier Museum, Wiertz Museum and the Magritte Museum.
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Jan Mot
Opened in 1992, the Jan Mot gallery is well known to Brussels art lovers. It represents Belgian artists such as Francis Alÿs and Sven Augustijnen and international artists like Mario Garcia Torres and Brussels-based French filmmaker Pierre Bismuth. The gallery has relocated several times before settling in the heart of the Sablon district.
Jan Mot
Patrick Derom Gallery
Located in the heart of the Petit Sablon in Brussels, the gallery was founded in 1986 by Patrick Derom and has, from the outset, pursued a rigorous and passionate approach to presenting carefully curated works. Over the years, Edouard Derom and Christine de Schaetzen have joined the gallery, reinforcing its expertise and continuity.
The gallery’s programme spans the period from circa 1880 to today, with a particular focus on the fin de siècle and modern movements from Symbolism to Pop Art. It notably champions artists such as Léon Spilliaert and James Ensor, while also engaging with leading contemporary figures including Ai Weiwei and Fabienne Verdier.
Patrick Derom Gallery
Galeria Jaqueline Martins
Founded in 2011, Galeria Jaqueline Martins develops a program grounded in historical research and sustained engagement with conceptual and experimental practices.
Bringing together artists from different generations and contexts, the gallery creates dialogues between historical and contemporary perspectives, with particular attention to practices that have emerged outside—or at the margins of—dominant art narratives.
Based in São Paulo and Brussels, the gallery works closely with its artists across exhibitions, research, publications, and institutional projects internationally.
Galeria Jaqueline Martins
Théâtre Royal du Parc
The Théâtre Royal du Parc is a theater built in 1782 on the edge of the Warandepark, in addition to the successful Vaux-Hall on the same site. After a turbulent history among the various occupiers, the theater today distinguishes itself by a program that alters classic and contemporary French-language creations, with a clear preference for comedy.
Théâtre Royal du Parc
Art Base
Art Base, located just opposite the Comic Strip Museum, is a multipurpose artistic space where you can enjoy interesting exhibitions, dance and poetry performances, and excellent world music concerts.
Art Base
MIM - Musical Instruments Museum (MRAH)
As soon as it opened at the end of the 19th century, the luxurious Old England department store earned an excellent reputation for its highly distinctive building. The entrance to the building is a jewel of the Art Nouveau style, while the rest is in perfect harmony with the neoclassical ensemble on the Place Royale, and just around the corner from the Grand-Place and Central Station, no less!
With a wealth of some 9.000 instruments, some 1.200 of which are on permanent exhibit, the museum's reputation is mainly built on its extraordinary collections.
Once inside, you'll embark on a true tour of the musical world. After your visit, the instruments and their history will no longer hold any secrets: from the viola da gamba from the Court of Brussels to the 20th century theremin, and even including the African kora!
The mim is nothing other than a place to experience music. A visitor's guidance system allows you to explore the thematic tours to the tune of the melodious sound of the instruments presented.
A program packed with concerts, demonstrations and workshops for the young and the not so young makes the mim experience even better.
The mim has its own concert hall, specialized library, museum shop, workshop for restauration and conservation of musical instruments and is crowned by a restaurant with panoramic view over Brussels.
MIM - Musical Instruments Museum (MRAH)
KBR
At KBR, history comes to life. The Royal Library of Belgium collects all Belgian publications and preserves a vast cultural and historical heritage. The collection contains over 8 million items, including books and manuscripts, newspapers, prints, music scores, coins, medals, and maps. As the national scientific library, KBR’s mission is to manage, study, and make this heritage accessible to the general public.
At the heart of the Royal Library lies the KBR museum. Dive into the enchanting world of manuscripts, polyphonic music, and illuminated miniatures. Discover the magnificent Library of the Dukes of Burgundy and enjoy a unique musical experience.
Enter the miniaturists' workshop and immerse yourself in a soundscape in the late-Gothic Nassau Chapel, where you are surrounded by the polyphony of the Franco-Flemish composers of the 15th and 16th centuries. Want to get hands-on? Design your own miniature, test your skills as a copyist, or experiment with polyphony yourself. Two or four voices, just the tenor or the bassus? The result is in your hands.
KBR
Bozar - Centre for Fine Arts
It’s impossible to talk about culture in Belgium without mentioning the Centre for Fine Arts located in Brussels. Whether it comes to exhibitions, concerts, theater performances, movies or projects concerning literature and architecture, BOZAR will always put originality and innovation first. They prove to keep a finger on the pulse with their varied and sophisticated programme. Besides emphasizing the importance of creation, quality and a rich artistic offering, BOZAR is especially concerned about the total experience of the visitors.
Bozar - Centre for Fine Arts
CINEMATEK
The Royal Belgian Film Archive now called CINEMATEK has one of the largest collection of films in the world, which illustrate the history of film from the beginnings to our times.
The collection increases every year with some 2,000 copies.
Cinematek proposes an excellent programmation with daily silent cinema screenings, anthologies, retrospectives etc.
CINEMATEK
Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles
The Concert Society (Concertvereniging) vzw was born in the lap of the Brussels Royal Conservatory. Each year the Society programmes a series of concerts in which the students at the Conservatory get the chance to gain experience of performing on stage. Teachers and students work together intensively to prepare for these concerts, an experience which undoubtedly makes a positive contribution to the students' education.
Many initiatives take place in co-production with other institutions and musical societies such as the Royal College of Music in London, the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique of Paris, the Musikhochschulen of Vienna, Graz and Cologne, the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, the Koninklijke Conservatoria in Rotterdam and in Den Haag, the Lemmensinstituut in Louvain, the Filharmonische Vereniging van Brussel, Europalia, and the arts festivals "Ars Musica" and "De barokke Lente van de Zavel".
Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles
Palais Royal
The Royal Palace was built on the site of the former Palace of the Dukes of Brabant which was destroyed by fire in 1731. Started in 1820 under the reign of King William, it was modified in 1904 under Leopold II, who had it rebuilt in Louis XVI style. The side wings date from the 18th century and at the end of each wing there is a pavilion. On the left that of the Civil List and on the right the Hotel Bellevue which is currently the BELvue Museum.
The palace is usually open to the public from the end of July to the end of August.
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Scheduled to be open from July 3 to August 16, 2026, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., except on Mondays.
Palais Royal
Musée Magritte Museum
The Musée Magritte Museum, located in the heart of Brussels, brings together the world's largest collection of the renowned surrealist artist René Magritte: 230 works and archives are displayed. The multidisciplinary space houses paintings, gouaches, drawings, sculptures, and painted objects, as well as advertising posters, musical scores, photographs and films. The Museum also has the most important collection from the artist’s "vache" period.
The selection of works exhibited in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium is constantly expanding with a changing selection of external loans. With the support of Belgian and foreign museums as well as private collectors, works are being made available that have previously never been exhibited. The visitor can thus discover many treasures that are still in private possession.
The Musée Magritte Museum has already received 8 nominations and prizes. Every year more than 300,000 visitors come here for all over the world to discover the life and the works of René Magritte.
Musée Magritte Museum
Great Royal Serment and of Saint George of the Crossbowmen of Brussels
Serving the City of Brussels since 1381 and respecting the tradition of companionships of former Brussels guilds, the Great Royal Serment and of Saint George of the Crossbowmen of Brussels has practised traditional crossbow shooting till today in the disciplines of 6, 10 and 20 meters, as well as the high pole of 36 meters. The Oath also sticks to tradition in its taking part to the Ommegang.
The museum exhibits collections related to the life of the Guild and the history of crossbow (more than 1500 pieces).
It is open to all, on Tuesdays from 13:00 to 17:00. Groups are welcome other days by appointment for a visit with a conference and shooting demonstrations. It is also possible to sign up (info@arbabxl.be) for a shooting initiation (over 18 only) on certain Thursdays at 20:00.
Great Royal Serment and of Saint George of the Crossbowmen of Brussels
Musée Oldmasters Museum
Memling, Hieronymus Bosch, Quentin Metsys, Breughel, Van Dyck, Rubens, and an impressive number of other giants of painting make a date with you in a magnificent setting. This temple to art celebrates paintings from the 15th to the 18th century, presenting hundreds of masterpieces that command admiration. A garden of sculptures with a fountain completes the display.
Musée Oldmasters Museum
Palace of Charles of Lorraine
The objects on display illustrate the life of aristocrats in the Austrian Netherlands and at the court of Brussels in the 18th Century: sedans, medals, china and silverware, clocks, Masonic objects, scientific and technical instruments, a music room, etc. Aesthetics, good food and entertainment take pride of place in a museum that also pays tribute to one of the most hedonistic princes our region has ever known. Charles of Lorraine’s was the governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1744 to 1780, an intellectual, curious about science, and a connoisseur of Diderot and d’Alembert’s encyclopedia. He was interested in occultism, an art lover, and a passionate collector. Open each first Saturday of the month, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The palace is closed for renovation works until 2019, when it will reopen to host the exhibition "The World of Bruegel in Black and White". You can still see the inside during some noon concerts in 2018.
Palace of Charles of Lorraine
Archives et Musée de la Littérature (AML)
A documentation, archival, and research centre, recognised by Belgium’s French-speaking Community, which focuses on Belgian literature in French from 1830 to today and on French-language African literature.
Archives et Musée de la Littérature (AML)
Musée Modern Museum
The collection of modern and contemporary art covers works dating from the late 18th century to the present day.
Jacques-Louis David’s famous and dramatic Marat can be seen in the old part of the Museum (Room 55). Two adjacent rooms display small format works illustrating Belgian Neoclassicism and works devoted to the Belgian revolution and the founding of the country.
The collection of modern and contemporary art is the object of a vast reinstallation programme. Right now it is presented to the public in the form of temporary exhibitions in the so-called "Patio" room. These hangings or 'Curators' choices' permit a regular rotation of modern art works until this rich collection is housed in its new location.
Musée Modern Museum
Chalcographie - KBR
KBR keeps more than 9,000 ancient and modern engraved plates (wood and copper). The plates tell the history of engraving in Belgium and Europe since 1488. These works show all aspects of daily life, tell regional anecdotes and highlight the beauty of our architecture and landscapes. They also teach us a lot about our history and the diversity of our culture.
Our Chalcography department produces original prints and reprints. The most popular and special prints are available in the shop.
Chalcographie - KBR
