Museum sights in Belgium
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Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten
The Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten is a monumental neoclassical edifice built at the end of the 19th century. Its stately rooms house an impressive collection of paintings dating from the 14th century to contemporary times and includes works by Flemish masters.
The size of the museum's collection means that paintings are sometimes rotated. To find the highlights you'll need to pick up a museum plan and audio headset (both free) from reception.
The Flemish Primitives are represented by Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling, Rogier Van der Weyden and Gerard David. Highlights include Van Eyck's unusual, almost monotone Saint Barbara (1437), Memling's rich Christ among Angels Sing…
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Musée Magritte
A completely anonymous, suburban yellow-brick house: that's the façade of the Musée Magritte, and the façade that René Magritte, Belgium's most famous surrealist artist, showed the outside world. This museum in Jette occupies the house where Magritte and his wife Georgette lived from 1930 to 1954. Its appeal comes from its incredibly ordinary nature. It's odd to think the man responsible for some of the 20th century's most enduring images spent 24 years of his life in this bourgeois backstreet.
The museum opened in 1999 as the private initiative of a friend of the widow Magritte. With scandalously little support from the Belgian state, the curators assembled hundreds …
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Musée Royale de l’Armée et d’Histoire Militaire
One for military buffs, this museum houses an extensive array of weaponry, uniforms, vehicles, warships and documentation dating from the Middle Ages through to Belgian independence and the mid-20th century. There’s a panoramic view of the park’s triumphal arch (built in 1880), the Arcade du Cinquantenaire, from the top floor.
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Mode Museum
Fashion followers must start with Antwerp's mode museum, MoMu. It's located in the much-celebrated ModeNatie complex, home also to both the Flanders Fashion Institute and the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Sticking firmly to avant-garde, MoMu changes its exhibits every six months.
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Museum aan de Stroom
The purpose-built multistorey Museum aan de Stroom is located between two docks - Bonapartedok and Willemdok - in the flourishing 't Eilandje district. Architecturally it's a big draw, designed like a modern spiral tower with a panorama platform offering city views. It brings together exhibits of the city's history from its earliest beginnings to recent times.
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Groeningemuseum
Bruges' prized collection of art dating from the 14th to the 20th century is housed in the small Groeningemuseum. Highlights of this prized collection of art dating from the 14th to the 20th century are the Flemish Primitives (Room 2), including masterpieces by Jan Van Eyck and Hans Memling. But also look out for works by Hieronymus Bosch (Room 1), and surrealists René Magritte and Paul Delvaux (Room 9).
Room 1, entitled Municipal Patronage, concentrates on works from the 15th and 16th centuries, many of which were commissioned by the city of Bruges. The gruesome Judgement of Cambyses (1498) by Gerard David depicts the Persian king being led from his throne and flayed a…
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Kantcentrum
Watch lace-makers at work at the Kantcentrum. Lace (kant in Flemish, dentelle in French) blossomed in Flanders in the 16th century. Naaldkant (needlepoint lace), which developed in Italy, was predominantly made in Brussels while kloskant (bobbin lace) is believed to have originated in Bruges. The latter requires thousands of painstaking and meticulous movements of bobbins and pins. Each lace-maker had her own patterns, which stayed in the family and were handed down through generations.
The Kantcentrum is best known for its bobbin lace-making demonstrations - informal gatherings of 20 or so women who congregate (afternoons only) in a small room at the rear of the complex.…
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Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique
This museum houses Belgium's premier collections of ancient and modern art and is particularly well endowed with works by Pieter Breugel the Elder, Rubens and the Belgian surrealists. Both sections are large and you'll need a good day here if you want to do them justice.
Highlights of the Museum of Ancient Art are paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, including Flemish primitives, Hans Memling, Rogier Van der Weydan, Dirk Bouts, and a whole room dedicated to Hieronymus Bosch.
Rubens dominates the 17th- and 18th-century collection, including the magnificent Adoration of the Magi, although you'll also get to appreciate fantastic pieces by Brueghel the Elder and Anthon…
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Museum Plantin-Moretus
The World Heritage-listed Museum Plantin-Moretus is home to the world's first industrial printing works. This fascinating museum deals with a prosperous 16th- and 17th-century printing family headed by Christoffel Plantin. Plantin moved from France to Antwerp where he set up as a bookbinder in 1548. Eight years later he started a printing business that eventually became the Low Countries' largest printing and publishing concern and a magnet for intellectuals, scientists and humanists.
On Plantin's death, the business passed to his son-in-law, Jan Moretus, and later to Jan's son, Balthasar, a friend of Rubens.
Some of the family portraits exhibited inside this museum are …
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Museum St Janshospitaal
The prestigious Museum St Janshospitaal is housed in a restored chapel of a 12th-century hospital. It's home to six masterpieces by Hans Memling, plus many works by lesser-known painters of that time. Memling is noted for the fine quality of the figures in his religious paintings, such as the central panel of the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine triptych (1479) that's presented here.
Perhaps more enchanting is the reliquary of St Ursula. Shaped like a miniature wooden Gothic church, the reliquary's six painted panels depict the medieval tale of the beautiful St Ursula and the 11,000 virgins who were massacred by the Huns in Germany while returning from a pilgrimage to Rome…
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Nationaal Scheepvaartmuseum Steen
This engaging museum houses model ships, maritime maps and instruments in the gatehouse and front section (which is all that remains) of the 13th-century castle, Steen. Highlights include an intriguing nautical totem shaped like a snake's head and boats from around the world, including an 18th-century coracle or skin boat. Beneath the next-door raised promenade is the museum's open-air collection of river barges, canal boats and De Schelde P905, a 1950's Belgian navy patrol ship.
It's on the foreshore of the River Scheldt to the immediate west of the old centre, within the partly-restored confines of a castle called the Steen that dates from 1200 and is Antwerp's oldest …
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Stedelijk Museum Voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK)
The motivation for many people's visit to Ghent is its Museum of Contemporary Art, a.k.a. SMAK. It holds a highly regarded permanent collection of local works (including Karel Appel, Pierre Alechinsky and Panamarenko) and works of international celebrities (like Christo, Warhol and Hockney), though of late it's been packing these away to devote its space to single major exhibits (such as Paul McCarthy's blood-spattered installations), so it's worth checking the programme.
Look out for works by Karel Appel, Pierre Alechinsky and Panamarenko - three of Belgium's best-known contemporary artists - as well as artworks by international celebrities like Christo, Warhol and Hockn…
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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 the extraordinary Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, housing the world’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. The on-site café serves African dishes, along with African beer, which you can walk off on the paths through the adjoining Park van Tervuren.
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Musée d'Ansembourg
Two other museums are located close to the tourist office. Life as it was for some in the 18th century is depicted in the beautiful Musée d'Ansembourg. If you've just come from either the Musée de la Vie Wallonne or the Musée d'Art Réligieux et d'Art Mosan, you'll find this rich, Regency-styled mansion wonderfully uncluttered. Highlights include four original 17th-century Oudenaarde tapestries, pieces of antique delftware pottery and, upstairs, a six-faced clock.
The latter simultaneously shows the time in 50 countries and was invented in 1795 by one Hubert Sarton; it still works.
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Musée de la Vie Wallonne
Close to the base of Montagne de Bueren is the Musée de la Vie Wallonne. Everything that's Walloon and old-fashioned is extolled here, from 12th-century Mosan metalwork to old wooden puppets and biscuit moulds (capable of making mega 5kg biscuits). There are reconstructed ateliers (workshops) from various trades including candlestick-making, basket-weaving and cooperage, as well as industries specifically associated with this region like glass-blowing that's still practised in Dinant.
It's all housed in a restored convent and makes a fascinating amble through the region's past.
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Musée Horta
Although the exterior doesn’t give much away, inside, Victor Horta’s former home – which he designed and built between 1898 and 1901 and inhabited until 1919 – is an Art Nouveau jewel. Bathed in warm colours, the ground-floor living areas incorporate gleaming floor-to-ceiling tiling, while upstairs, you can see Horta’s personalised touches (such as the nifty plumbed urinal behind a cupboard in the bedroom) in the small, intimate rooms. The lower level offers an overview of his work, including the scale model of his magnificent Maison du Peuple before it met with the wrecking ball.
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Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée
Belgium’s national Comic Strip Centre is a studious look at the evolution of comics: how they’re made, seminal artists and their creations, and contemporary comic-strip artists. In truth, the admission price is steep for the rather limited displays – unless you’re an Art Nouveau aficionado, in which case it’s worth visiting to see Victor Horta’s 1906 light-filled glass-and-steel textile warehouse in which the museum is housed. Few interpretive signs are in English; ask to borrow an English-language booklet. There is also a comprehensive shop selling comics, and a pleasant café.
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FotoMuseum
Five blocks south of MuHKA and with an excellent reputation is the newly renovated and expanded FotoMuseum. Once again housed in a renovated warehouse, this museum has a huge collection of B&W photographs, old portraits and ancient cameras. One of the highlights is the Keizerspanorama, a huge, motorised, slide-viewing contraption built in 1905 for Antwerp Zoo. In the evening you can take in a golden-oldie film in one of two auditoria. The kitchen of the stunning black-and-white café (also closed Mondays) stays open until 22:00.
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Fondation Jacques Brel
Chansonnier Jacques Brel (1929–78) made his debut in 1952 at a cabaret in his native Belgium, and shot to fame in Paris, where he was a contemporary of Édith Piaf and co, though his songs continued to hark back to the bleak ‘flat land’ of his native country. This dedicated archive centre and museum, set up by his daughter, France (named for Brel’s adopted home), contains more than a hundred hours of footage and another hundred of audio recordings, as well as thousands of photographs and articles.
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Musée d'Art Réligieux et d'Art Mosan
Just steps away from the Museum of Walloon Life, is the excellent Musée d'Art Réligieux et d'Art Mosan. Spanning several floors, this museum is chock-full of well-preserved religious relics and paintings from the region. Start on the 3rd floor - home to glowing 16th-century statues of St Hubert, the region's patron saint of hunters - then weave your way down. On the 2nd floor, note the worn but nevertheless delicate wood carving of the Vierge (Virgin) that dates right back to 1070.
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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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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 <em>kloskant</em> (bobbin lace) is believed to have originated in Bruges, <em>naaldkant</em> (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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Guido Gezellemuseum
Flanders' best-known poet is celebrated at the Guido Gezellemuseum. Gezelle became a cult figure among Flemish freethinkers in the early 20th century. He was born in 1830 in this house, which belonged to a noble family - his father was the gardener and Gezelle lived here until age 16, when he left to study at Roeselare (between Bruges and Kortrijk). The museum contains books and documents recalling his life and works, such as The Evening and the Rose, sold at reception.
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Brussels City Museum
The Brussels City Museum sits in the heart of the city opposite the City Hall in the Grand-Place. It 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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Musée de la Ville de Bruxelles
No king actually 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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