Hof van Busleyden

Northeast Belgium


After years of preparation, Mechelen's historical museum should have reopened by the time you read this, offering state-of-the-art interactive exhibits and a multilingual audio guide to help bring context to the city's glory days of the 15th and 16th centuries. The setting is a splendid mansion dating from the period.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Northeast Belgium attractions

1. St-Janskerk

0.07 MILES

Built in white sandstone, the 15th-century Gothic church of the 'two Johns' (Baptist and Evangelist) looks fairly unremarkable from the outside. However,…

2. Tongerlo Refuge

0.16 MILES

In medieval times, abbots from wealthy monasteries would often travel to Mechelen to consult the primate (archbishop) and thus required city residences…

3. De Wit Royal Manufacturers

0.16 MILES

Established in 1889, this workshop is one of the few places in Belgium where you can see contemporary tapestries being woven and antique ones from all…

4. St-Petrus & Pauluskerk

0.19 MILES

Dating from 1677, this fine church has a very spacious feel, with two rows of whitewashed Corinthian columns and an elegant altarpiece of pale grey marble…

5. Op-Sinjoorke Statue

0.2 MILES

Landing on his back with limbs akimbo, the giant yellow character that you see in the grassy contoured space north of St-Romboutskathedraal is Op…

6. Het Zotte Kunstkabinet

0.21 MILES

This eccentric little shop-museum is great if you can catch it open, and has some fun with the 'crazy' hell scenes and frolicking odd folk of 16th-century…

7. St-Romboutskathedraal

0.22 MILES

This soaring, Gothic-vaulted cathedral features a 1723 monumental pulpit, a 1630 Van Dyck crucifixion scene in the south transept, and dozens more fine…

8. Stadhuis

0.22 MILES

Balancing the massive bulk of St-Romboutskathedraal across Mechelen's splendid Grote Markt is the contrastingly poetic stadhuis in all its devil-may-care…