Musical Instruments Museum
Thousands of instruments displayed in the Art Nouveau Old England store on the Mont des Arts.
The museum grew out of a collection assembled from 1877 by the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, enlarged by a gift of Indian instruments to King Leopold II and by the collection of the musicologist Francois-Joseph Fetis. Since 2000 it has occupied the former Old England department store on the Mont des Arts, a steel and glass building of 1899 by Paul Saintenoy, together with a neoclassical wing next door. The move brought the holdings, which number several thousand items, into a single display over four floors.
Galleries are arranged by theme: mechanical and electronic instruments, the history of Western instruments, keyboards and stringed instruments, and traditional instruments from Europe and beyond. Visitors wear infrared headphones that trigger recordings of the instruments as they pass each case. The building also holds a concert hall used for chamber recitals, a study collection, a restoration workshop and a library, while the top-floor restaurant opens onto a terrace with a view over the lower city.
Highlights
- Collection of several thousand instruments from around the world
- Infrared headphone guide that plays the instruments on display
- Old England building of 1899 in iron and glass by Paul Saintenoy
- Concert hall with a regular programme of recitals
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