# Musée Art & Histoire

> Belgium's national collection of antiquity, archaeology and decorative arts, in the Cinquantenaire park, a short metro ride east of the centre.

- Canonical URL: https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/museum/musee-art-et-histoire
- Category: Museum
- Address: Parc du Cinquantenaire 10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
- Coordinates: 50.839367, 4.391583
- Opening hours: Tu-Fr 09:30-17:00; Sa-Su 10:00-17:00
- Official website: https://www.artandhistory.museum

## Why we recommend it

It is big enough to be a real museum and still small enough to finish in an afternoon, which is not something we can say about the Louvre. Much of what is here was dug up or made in Belgium, so it tells you where you are rather than being a general survey of everything.

## About

The museum fills one wing of the Cinquantenaire, the triumphal complex Leopold
II built for the fiftieth anniversary of Belgian independence. The building is
part of the visit: vast halls, iron and glass, and a scale that makes the
collections feel like they were installed rather than crammed in.

The collections divide into four: antiquity, non-European civilisations,
national archaeology, and European decorative arts. The **national archaeology**
rooms are the ones that reward a slow walk. Objects found in Belgian soil,
laid out chronologically, so you leave with a sense of what was happening here
before Brussels existed.

The decorative arts section holds an Art Nouveau collection that pairs well
with the Horta buildings elsewhere in the city, if that is what brought you to
Brussels.

## Getting there

This is the one entry in this directory that is not a walk. Take the metro,
**line 1 or line 5**, to **Mérode** or **Schuman**; Schuman is the shorter
approach on foot from the station. From Brussels Central it is a few stops and
about fifteen minutes door to door.

Allow two to three hours inside. It is possible to see the whole thing without
the museum fatigue that a larger collection forces on you.

## Distances

Straight-line distances computed from coordinates. Walking times are estimates, not measured routes.

| From | Straight line | On foot |
|---|---|---|
| Grand-Place | 2.9 km | approx. 52 min |
| Place du Grand Sablon | 2.5 km | approx. 46 min |
| Brussels Central | 2.5 km | approx. 46 min |
| Our apartment | 2.7 km | approx. 49 min |
| Manneken-Pis | 3.0 km | approx. 54 min |

## Map

- [OpenStreetMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=50.839367&mlon=4.391583#map=18/50.839367/4.391583)
- [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=50.839367,4.391583)
- [Walking directions from the Grand-Place](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&origin=50.846700,4.352500&destination=50.839367,4.391583&travelmode=walking)

## Nearby

- [Musée Old Masters](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/museum/musee-old-masters) — Four hundred years of painting at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, with the world's second largest Bruegel collection, ten minutes from the apartment.
- [Musée Magritte](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/museum/musee-magritte) — Five floors devoted to René Magritte, holding the world's largest collection of his work.
- [Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/shopping/galeries-saint-hubert) — A glazed shopping arcade of 1847, among the oldest in Europe, a short walk from the apartment and dry in any weather.

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Source: [Musée Art & Histoire](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/places/museum/musee-art-et-histoire) on [Brussels Grand Place](https://www.brusselsgrandplace.com/), the Grand-Place in Brussels building by building, written by people who live 200 m from the square.
Last updated: 2026-09-15.