Experience the museum differently

“The most beautiful square of the world”, Victor Hugo wrote. And yes, it’s on this square that the Belgian community of Museomix invites you to remix in 2017: The Grand Place of Brussels.
Which museum will be mixed? The Brussels City Museum
Where will we be working? Across the museum, just 20 meters away, in the well known and beautiful Town Hall!

The Museum of the City of Brussels is located in the historic centre of the city, on the Grand-Place, the most famous and frequently visited location in the capital. It resides in a neo-Gothic style building known as the Maison du Roi in French and Broodhuis in Dutch. The two names go some way to explaining the history of the building: Broodhuis refers to its first incarnation, as a bread market in the 13th century, while Maison du Roi refers to the titles of the owner of the building, the Duke of Brabant. In the 16th century, this was Charles V, “King” of Spain.
The first masterpiece of the museum, the building was listed in its entirety in 1936 (one of the first in Belgium) and has been listed alongside the Grand-Place as a UNESCO world heritage site since 2000.

With more than 7000 objects in the permanent collection, het museum is one of the richest testimonies of the Brussels evolution in history. The paintings like “The Wedding Cortège” of Jan Breughel the Elder or “the Bombing of the Grand Place in 1695” tell the small and big histories of the city and its inhabitants. The paintings are found next to the worldwide celebrated Brussels tapestries like “The martyrdome of Saint Paul” and his exceptional carton. A maquette shows the 13th century while maps and cards visualise the urbanisation of the city. Wooden and stone sculptures of the Brussels skyline to poterie in shapes of asparagus and cabbage and of course, the must see in Brussels, the original statue of Manneke-Pis. The statue stays in the museum, although his precious wardrobe recently moved to Rue du Chêne, near the fountain.

Together with the permanent collection, the museum also shows temporary exhibitions with Brussels accents. End august 2017, Charles Baudelaire follows up Pieter Coecke. In fact, at the end of his life, the poet stayed in Brussels for two years, which he didn’t like very much! Through scolding, insults and caustic criticism from his pamphlet “Poor Belgium”, it is the perception of an embittered Parisian on a “city of province” that will be seen, perceived and especially heard.