I love this annual event! I went for the first time last year and actually volunteered (I was paid,…read moreso not real volunteering, got a free ticket and a shirt as well!) I love that for 1 Saturday a year (usually in February) quite a number of museums are open until midnight, with an afterparty following. Here's a quick list of all the (normally) participating museums: Jewish Museum of Belgium, Museum of Costume and Lace, Museum of the City of Brussels, Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Brussels, La Monnaie, Belgian Comic Strip Center, Cinematek, Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR), Musical Instruments Museum (mim), Palace of Charles de Lorraine (Royal Library of Belgium), BIP - Brussels Info Place, ING Cultural Center, BELvue Museum, Coudenberg - Former Palace of Brussels, Charlier Museum, Le Botanique, art & marges museum, Wiels, Museum of Fantastic Art (MAF), Royal Museum of the Armed Forces, Autoworld, Parlamentarium, Museum of Natural Sciences, Ixelles Museum. Throughout the evening there are various events (tours, displays, etc.) scheduled at the museums and there are continuous shuttle buses to transport you from museum to museum. Very well organized and fun to visit a museum after (normal) hours! Also great for families, if the kids can stay up late enough! Bonus: you get a free entry to visit any of the above mentioned museums within a few weeks of Museum Night Fever! Be on the lookout for this event each February!

Scored last minute tickets to see Cigarettes after Sex and WOW what a beautiful venue…read more A small intimate venue that opened in 1878 with a capacity of about 3500 spectators. Once served as the only permanent circus in Belgium, as well as nautical shows and even a cinema, it's now mainly used for live music shows. The venue is comprised of 3 levels, Upper concourse, Lower concourse, and Floor. Tickets were sold as general admission with a designated level but never saw anyone enforcing any of the seating. Don't get any funny ideas, haha, I only mention this because it's fascinating how the venue pretty much runs on the honor system, a system that would never work here in America. The floor would be saturated with upper level ticket holders at the Forum or Madison Square Garden, just saying. Another fascinating system is the way you buy beer. They have a token system in place that requires 1 or 2 tokens per beer, depending on the beer which makes for a faster transaction and shorter wait time. Well done. By far one of the most beautiful venues I've ever been to,

Like a normal concert hall. We saw some concerts here and it was like most places. Good seating and…read moregood music to the average european standards and prices.

I would recommend buying tickets online ahead of time because there aren't a lot of tickets per…read moretime slot. They're pretty strict with the timing so I would say show up a few minutes before your time slot. I showed up about 15 minutes early and they made me wait in the locker area. They provide free lockers to put your bags in because you can't carry them around. You're also not allowed to take pictures of the inside above the living room level. The architecture is super interesting and unique. I finished the whole loop around the house and they let me go through it a second time so that I could catch details I missed the first time around. Note that there's a good amount of stair climbing so make sure you're prepared for that!

What a fabulous museum and crazy great architecture! The design is spectacular and although it was…read morecrowded, I enjoyed the self guided tour.

An enormous and architecturally impressive museum, set on the edge of Brussels, containing a vast…read morearray of natural and ethnographic artefacts reflecting Belgium's colonial rule in Central Africa, better known now as the Belgian Congo. History The story begins with the creation of the Congo Free State in 1885, covering what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Effectively, this was a colonial company controlled by King Leopold II of Belgium and ostensibly established to develop the resources and population of the area. However, it became infamous as an example of brutality towards native peoples and of economic exploitation, and was annexed by the Belgian Government as a colony in the traditional sense in 1909. An exhibition to publicise the economic opportunities presented by the 'Free State' was held in 1897 in parallel with the Expo in Brussels, on Royal Parkland at Tervuren. This displayed both wildlife and ethnographic objects as well as the main export products. This became a permanent museum after the Expo, but as the collection expanded, new premises were required, and plans for a huge Baroque palace were commissioned from French architect Charles Girault in 1904, which opened in 1910. This still forms the core of the museum. Today, the research elements of the museum cover anthropology, geology, natural history and history. Overall the museum now aims - in stark contrast to its origins - to contribute towards sustainable development in Africa. The museum The museum lies near the end of the tram route through Tervuren, a leafy suburb south east of Brussels. The main building is impressive in both scale and its elaborate architecture, and is set set off by attractive formal gardens as well as parkland. The collections are, for the most part, still very conservatively displayed, with lots of glass cases containing stuffed animals (although some are in more realistic dioramas) and items such as huge arrays of identical beetles. (Bear in mind that the huge displays still only show 1% of the total collection, most of which is stored in warehouses.) If that's not your thing, the ethnographic collections are more varied and interesting, comprising everything from clothing, armaments and ceremonial masks to everyday objects and even musical instruments. Of particular interest is the exhibition about the explorer (and finder of Livingstone) Henry Morton Stanley, who played a key role in the Congo's colonial development. There are also more modern video displays, as well as some covering Congolese independence: a major exhibition is planned next year covering 50 years of independence. It all makes for sober viewing, though, given that some of the tribal groups whose objects are displayed were effectively wiped out during the Free State period, and of course the complex and often violent history of the former colony since independence. The lack of open recognition of the atrocities carried out in the name of the Free State is still a controversial and sensitive subject, however, although the museum has made efforts in recent years to acknowledge this. Practicalities The easiest way to get to the museum from Brussels is by metro and tram: Brussels Central. Take metro line 1B (direction Stockel) as far as Montgomery station, and change onto tram 44 to Tervuren. The tram journey takes 22 minutes with 4 trams per hour on weekdays and 3 per hour at weekends. The Museum is 300m from the tram terminus. If you're driving, it's on the N3 main road, with plenty of parking and disabled parking on the road in front of the museum. The website gives access details for those with physical disabilities, and guide dogs are permitted inside.

First built to showcase King Leopold II's Congo Free State for the 1897 World Exhibition, this…read morebuilding stands impressive in Tervuren in Flemish Brabant, just outside of Brussels. There has been controversy surrounding the Museum. Some call it "a museum of a museum", as it shows how a museum looked like in the mid-twentieth century. For example, Expo '58 still showed a harmonious Belgian-Congolese relationship, while the country stood on the brink of independence. However, I still found it very useful to visit, not least for the architecture and the wast collections. From the end of November 2013, the Museum will be closed for renovation work which is expected to last until May 2016. The park is still worth a visit though.