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Atomium
The Atomium is a space-age leftover from the 1958 World Fair. It was built by the powerful Belgian metal industry as a model of an iron molecule - enlarged 165 billion times. The 102m-high steel structure consists of nine balls linked by columns. When approached from central Brussels, it looms over houses in the nearby suburbs like an alien from a '60s Hollywood movie.
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Autoworld
Prior to WWII, Belgium had a thriving auto industry and this coolest of car collections is its legacy. On display are some 400 vehicles (Model T Fords, Citroen 2CVs and much more, through to the 1970s), housed in a stunning 1880 steel structure.
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Breugel House
There is a museum in this step-gabled house where Pieter Breugel the Elder lived and died, but it's only open by reservation; phone ahead or check with the tourist office for details.
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Brussels City Museum
The Brussels City Museum provides a historical overview of the city through old maps, architectural relics, paintings and, displayed on the ground floor, Pieter Breugel the Elder's Cortège de Noces (Wedding Procession) of 1567. One room on the 3rd floor is devoted to the worldly wardrobe of Manneken Pis, though only a fraction of his 700-odd garments are displayed.
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Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée
The Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art, or Comic Strip Museum, is a wonderful showcase for Belgium's favourite art. Occupying the splendid Grand Magasin Waucquez, a 1906 Art Nouveau department store created by Victor Horta and painstakingly restored, this extensive collection displays work by Belgium's best-loved comic artists.
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Cinquantenaire Museum
An incredible 350,000 artefacts from all continents, spanning antiquity, national archaeology, non-European civilizations and European arts and crafts, make up the permanent collection at the majestic Royal Museum of Art and History. We love the fine jewellery and cult of the dead funerary gifts from the Merovingian civilization.
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Costume and Lace Museum
A stone's throw from the Grand Place, the Costume and Lace Museum is Belgium's second-best lace exhibition (top honours goes to the Nationaal Vlas, Kant en Linnenmuseum in Kortrijk). Notice the sombre black attire once worn by women en promenade (out walking in public) and the more colourful lace gowns for women en visite (visiting someone's home). Note also the antique underwear, including an old bustehouder (bra). Pick up the English-language booklet before setting off.
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Fondation Jacques Brel
The Jacques Brel Foundation is an archive centre and museum dedicated to Brussels' raspy-voiced singer Jacques Brel (1929-78). Brel rose to stardom in Paris in the 1950s for his passionate songs that have transcended a generation. The legendary chansonnier was a transient troubadour who performed with intensity.
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Hôtel Hannon & Contretype Photographic Gallery
If you're into photographic art you might want to catch an exhibition here. Even if you're not, it's worth stopping by for the splendid Art Nouveau building in which it's housed, Hôtel Hannon, designed in 1902 by Jules Brunfaut and graced by stone friezes and stained glass.
Read more about Hôtel Hannon & Contretype Photographic Gallery
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Ixelles Museum
The Ixelles Museum has a small but engaging collection of modern Belgian and French art. It covers most of the movements of the 19th and 20th centuries and features works by Magritte and Delvaux.
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Koninklijk Museum Voor Midden-Afrika
Preserved insects, stuffed animals (including a huge elephant), masks, musical instruments, jewellery, and a 22m-long pirogue (canoe) crafted by the Lengola people are among the mind-boggling displays at this extraordinary museum the word's largest collection of such artefacts outside Africa. Most artefacts were plundered during King Léopold II's exploitation of the Congo in the 19th century, something that is, finally, being increasingly addressed through the museum's displays.
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Musée Antoine Wiertz
Down the road from the Musée des Sciences Naturelles is the Musée Antoine Wiertz - if you're into the shocking or nasty, it may appeal. Antoine Wiertz (1806-65) was a 19th-century Brussels artist bent on painting giant religious canvases depicting hell and other frenzied subjects. The building was Wiertz's home and studio and was also once the residence of the noted Flemish writer Hendrik Conscience.
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Musée BELvue
Attached to the palace's western end is the new Musée BELvue. An English-language audio-guide takes you through Belgium's history from independence. The museum's brochure claims 'there will be few secrets left about Belgium's past' following a visit here.
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Musée Bruxellois de la Gueuze
Anyone with even a vague interest in Belgian beers must not miss a visit to the excellent Musée Bruxellois de la Gueuze. It's not so much a museum as a self-guided tour through the family-run Cantillon brewery, where the owners still proudly use traditional methods to make their strange lambic beers. After a brief introduction, make your own way around the ancient complex before returning to sample a beer or two.
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Musée Constantin Meunier
The southern part of Ixelles is home to the intimate Musée Constantin Meunier. Constantin Meunier (1831-1905), a Brussels-born artist, is best known for his emotive sculptures fed by social realism. Larger-than-life bronzes depict working-class themes - muscular miners from Hainaut, dockworkers from Antwerp and men reaping fields. The museum occupies the town house where he lived and worked during his last years.
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Musée d'Art Ancien
To view the collections of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts chronologically, start with the Musée d'Art Ancien. Begin with the Flemish Primitives, including works by Rogier Van der Weyden, Dirk Bouts, Hans Memling and Gerard David. Move onto Quinten Matsijs, whose paintings demonstrate a turning point in Flemish art as traditional realistic scenes were superseded by the more flamboyant Renaissance style imported from Italy.
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Musée d'Art Moderne
The Musée d'Art Moderne houses 19th- and 20th-century art and occupies a subterranean gallery that meanders for six levels below ground. Due to the opening of the new Magritte Museum here, some of the collection has been moved to the Dexia Art Centre in Rue de l'Écuyer. Whether here or there, earlier highlights to look out for include sculptures by Constantin Meunier, Ensor's macabre fighting skeletons, and many paintings by Paul Delvaux.
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Musée David et Alice Van Buuren
The exquisite Musée David Et Alice van Buuren is located in the former house of Dutch banker David van Buuren, a wealthy collector and patron of the arts who built this Art Deco showpiece in 1928.
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Musée De La Brasserie
Brussels' brewery museum is authentic in the sense that it occupies the basement of the brewers' guildhall and has some 18th-century brewing equipment. But visitors are often disappointed at its small size and the lack of any actual brewing taking place (though you do get a beer at the end). To see a real brewery in action, head to the Cantillon Brewery's Musée Bruxellois de la Gueuze.
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Musée De La Ville De Bruxelles
No king ever lived in this Maison du Roi (King's House), but in the folklore section of Brussels' City Museum are 760-odd regal costumes - including an Elvis suit - belonging to Manneken Pis, whose official dresser cloaks him in these little outfits on special occasions. Other museum highlights include Pieter Breugel the Elder's Cortège de Noces (Wedding Procession; 1567), along with maps and paintings tracing the history of the city.
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Musée des Enfants
Musée des Enfants is basically a big old mansion that's morphed into an indoor playground. Kids (aged three to nine) can paint, plant a garden, explore a space capsule, bake biscuits and more. It's very popular, particularly on wet days.
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Musée Des Instruments De Musique & Old England Building
Strap on a pair of headphones then step on the automated floor panels in front of the precious instruments (including world instruments and Adolphe Sax's inventions) to hear them being played. As much of a highlight as the Musical Instrument Museum itself is its premises - the Art Nouveau Old England building. This former department store was built in 1899 by Paul Saintenoy and has a panoramic rooftop café and outdoor terrace.
Read more about Musée Des Instruments De Musique & Old England Building
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Musée du Costume et de la Dentelle
Lace-making has been one of Flanders' finest (and most eye-straining) crafts since the 16th century. While kloskant (bobbin lace) is believed to have originated in Bruges, naaldkant (needlepoint lace) developed in Italy but was predominantly made in Brussels. The Costume and Lace Museum reveals lace's applications for under- and outerwear over the centuries, as well as displaying other luxury textiles such as embroidery. Ask for an English-language booklet.
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Musée du Jouet
This newly renovated museum explores the toys of yesteryear. It's full of stuff, but it's not 'Hands off!'
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Musée Horta
A superb introduction to the late-19th-century Art Nouveau movement is the Musée Horta. It occupies two adjoining houses in St Gilles that Horta designed and built between 1898 and 1901 and is where he lived until 1919.
