Brussels or the Capital of Comic Culture

List of museums in Brussels

Wondering how to make the most of your time in Brussels? Together with us, you can create a list for visiting museums where you get to know the culture of Brussels. For getting around the city, we recommend choosing a sustainable way to travel, which you can do with your STIB card. The STIB card option enables the use of public passenger transport in all 19 municipalities of the entire area in the city. With the STIB card, you can choose to travel by metro, bus or train. At the same time, you get access to 49 city museums and tourist attractions, as well as many benefits in restaurants, bars and shops. Put the museum choices we've prepared for you at Hostelling International Slovenia on your bucket list. Take the challenge and visit the cultural monument and six city museums where you will learn about Brussels culture:

• Atomium in Design Museum Brussels
• Choco Story Brussels
• Magritte Museum
• Autoworld Museum
• Fin-de-Siècle Museum and Oldmasters Museum

The Atomium and the Design Museum Brussels, Choco Story Brussels, Magritte Museum, Autoworld Museum, Fin-de-Siècle Museum and Oldmasters Museum are cultural attractions that make the Belgian capital simply impossible to get to know without them. The diverse range of museum collections in more than 80 city museums in Brussels showcases the natural and cultural heritage of Belgian history and raises awareness of the cultural diversity of the Belgian nation. Walking through museum institutions with a tour of museum collections should be a part of your trip.

From Grand-Place to a Belgian Waffle

The centre of the city is a large square called Grand-Place, the starting point of which was a smaller square from the 11th century, built during the time of the Duchy of Lower Lorraine. The Lower Market, as it was called in the Duchy of Lower Lorraine, underwent a change in the 14th century when the city authorities of Brussels built a town hall on the square and named it the Grand-Place. At the same time, the great cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudule, the finishing work on which was done at the beginning of the 16th century. Historic buildings on the square, built in the Baroque and Neo-Gothic style, can be seen on a guided walk through the city, where you can also get to know the famous symbol of the town of Manneken Pis fountain from 1619. Learn about the cultural sights and architecture of Brussels on the trails of the upper and lower cities.

Comic culture is widespread throughout the city as street art, visible on the walls of town houses. Wall paintings are dedicated to favourite comic book heroes, such as Asterix and Obelix, Lucky Luke and Tintin. A guided tour takes you to the city's masterpieces and the Comic Art Museum, where you can learn about the history of Belgian comics. After visiting the exhibition in the comic book museum, we suggest you to treat yourself to Belgian fries. For dessert, we invite you to a Belgian waffle workshop, where you learn how to prepare and bake waffles with different toppings.

Cultural events, festivals and markets

The capital of Brussels is a city of culture, where about 200 different cultural events and festivals are organised and hosted every year. Cultural events are interesting for a wider audience of people who love music concerts, film production, artistic performances, culinary experiences and many other artistic events or sports activities. Throughout the year, various cultural events are held to celebrate the city's traditional season changes and to define its national identity as a Belgian nation. The municipalities of Brussels organise flea markets for visitors once a year or every week. The most current market, which takes place every Sunday morning near Midi Station and Midi Boulevard, is the Midi Market. On the first Sunday of every month, the Woluwe flea market opens on Woluwe Boulevard, while the Grand Sablon Square hosts an antique market every Saturday and Sunday since 1960. The founder of the market is Georges Van de Weghe.

Every day of the year, the Marolles flea market opens in Jeu de Balle, where you can buy almost anything you need. Winter time in November and December are for celebrating and looking forward to the New Year. The Plaisirs d'Hiver Christmas Market offers Saint-Catherine’s Market and a large indoor ice rink for children and adults. November and December are also the months when the winter euphoria is intensified by the Ligue d'Improvisation Professionnelle Wallonie - Bruxelles, an improvisational theatre. The four-day performance of street theatre in August is enhanced by the Théâtres Nomades festival, where you can see theatre performances, listen to fairy tales and musical acts. The caravan of the Théâtres Nomades Festival transforms Brussels Park into an artistic village where a real theatre play takes place.

Place des Palais is an important location for the Brussels Summer Festival, located between the Palais Royal and Brussels Park. The event also takes place in the Mont des Arts, an urban complex in the centre of Brussels, and the La Madeleine Concert Hall. The Brussels Summer Festival is the most important cultural event of the month of August. With a ten-day music programme in the city, the content of cultural events, music concerts and other cultural activities is created. You can attend the celebration of Brussels culture every third weekend in September at the Folklorissimo festival. A place of traditionally organised celebration is Grand-Place Square and the surroundings of the famous bronze sculpture - Manneken Pis. The fountain is the work of the sculptor Jerome Duquesnoy.

Why should I choose Hostel Bruegel?

Plan a trip to Brussels with practical advice from Hostelling International Slovenia, as the preparations are crucial for the course of the trip, where your travel ideas should be related to the key tourist attractions and cultural characteristics in the selected destination where you are travelling. An important part of travelling and living in a certain destination is booking accommodation where you can get quality sleep. We took care of this at the Hostelling International Slovenia and chose Hostel Bruegel, which is equipped with the inspiration of the Dutch Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel. Located in the city centre, not far from Brussel-Centraal Train Station, Hostel Bruegel offers self-catering accommodation with free Wi-Fi. Quick access to all tourist attractions is available with selected accommodation to all who would like to experience Brussels with a HI hostel.

Near the hostel, you can learn about the development and origins of the Art Nouveau architectural style in the Bailli district, where you can visit ten Art Nouveau houses on a three-hour walking tour. Learn how architects such as Belgian architect and designer Viktor Horta used iron, glass, wood and stone to create the architectural style of art nouveau. The art nouveau tour ends at the Horta Museum. The Belgian Chocolate Makers shop invites you to a chocolate making workshop. It is only five minutes away from the hostel. Roll up your sleeves and make delicious Belgian chocolate products.

Bruges and Ghent

A trip outside the Belgian capital to the two nearby cities of Bruges and Ghent takes place by bus and guide, presenting the key cultural attractions of the cities. You can see the most beautiful examples of cultural attractions, such as the 12th-century Basilica of The Holy Blood and the Ghent Altarpiece in St. Cathedral Bavo, part of which is a panel painting by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck - Worship of the Mystical Lamb. Bruges is known for its historic city centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You'll certainly enjoy a stroll through the historic city, from which you'll continue on to Ghent's most beautiful tourist attractions. You can read why in the historic city of Bruges on a trip, with travel advice from our journalist Alenka.

Did you know?

• Belgium is best known for its chocolate and beer.
• The Belgian capital, Brussels, is both the capital of the European Union and the comic books.
• The beginning of the seat of the European Union in Brussels is recorded on February 7th, 1992.
• Moules-frites, the typical national speciality of Brussels, has French origins and consists of mussels and French fries.
• The Brussels waffle is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.
• The founding of Brussels dates back to 979, when Charles, a nobleman from the Duchy of Lower Lorraine, honoured the name of Saint Gudula and deposited her remains in the Church of St. Gaugericus.
• The famous bronze Manneken Pis sculpture, symbol of Brussels, is only 55.5 metres high.
• Cinquantenaire Park, where the triumphal arch is erected, is built in the form of a pentagon.

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