World City Guide

Further Distractions

Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée (Belgian Centre for Comic Strips)
The history of the Belgian comic strip, including its links with silent movies and animation, is displayed throughout the airy and uplifting Grand Magasin Waucquez, designed by Victor Horta. Original drawings by early masters, such as André Franquin (who created accident-prone Gaston Lagaffe), and Georges Remi (Hergé) (who breathed life into Tintin) are complemented by modern-day cartoons, temporary exhibitions, an exhaustive academic library, children’s library and a brasserie.

Rue des Sables 20
Tel: (02) 219 1980. Fax: (02) 219 2376.
E-mail: visit@cbbd.be
Website: www.cbbd.be
Transport: Train/métro Gare Centrale; bus 29, 38, 47, 60, 65, 66, 71.
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1800.
Admission: ¬6.20; concessions available; ¬2.50 (reference library).

Musée Horta (Horta Museum)
Architect Victor Horta (1885-1946) worked to produce some 110 buildings, first in neo-Gothic style, famously in Art Nouveau and latterly in sparse Modernist style. Many (such as the Hôtel Solvay, Avenue Louise 224, and Hôtel Van Eetvelde at Avenue Palmerston 4) are still standing. However, the Musée Horta (the architect’s former home and studio) is beautifully preserved and open to the general public. Attention to detail sweeps through the building, from the vertical letterbox and finely scripted number 25 on the façade to the sculpted staircase and dining room floor, where a marble mosaic encircles the finest American ash. A theatrical arrangement of secret front doors allowed the architect to welcome guests from different social and religious backgrounds without their being aware of each other’s presence.

Rue Américaine 25
Tel: (02) 543 0490. Fax: (02) 538 7631.
E-mail: info@hortamuseum.be
Website: www.hortamuseum.be
Transport: Tram 81, 82, 92 (Place Janson); bus 54.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1400-1730.
Admission: ¬4.95; concessions available.

Atomium and Mini-Europe
Léopold II bequeathed the 202-hectare (500-acre) estate of Heysel to the city of Brussels in 1909. The large exhibition spaces are located here, to the northwest of the centre. Its most famous landmark, however, is the Atomium – a giant model of an oxygen molecule, built for the 1958 World Fair as a temporary structure, although never fully dismantled. It reopens in January 2006 following extensive renovation, including replacement of its metal ‘skin’. The highest sphere gives a panoramic view of the entire region. The science exhibition is of interest only to young children. Nearby Mini-Europe shrinks Europe to a size that can be covered in a short walk, with faithful miniatures of the Eiffel Tower, Westminster and the Berlin Wall in the process of being dismantled. Five new ‘countries’ were included for 2005, among them Cyprus and Lithuania.

Atomium
Boulevard du Centenaire
Tel: (02) 475 4777. Fax: (02) 475 4779.
E-mail: info@atomium.be
Website: www.atomium.be
Transport: Métro Heysel; bus 84 or 89; tram 23 or 81.
Opening hours: (From January 2006) Daily 0900-1900 (Apr-Aug); daily 1000-1730 (Sep-Mar).
Admission: ¬6 between Feb and Apr 2006, ¬8 from May 2006; concessions available.

Mini-Europe
Bruparck, Boulevard du Centenaire
Tel: (02) 474 1313. Fax: (02) 478 2675.
E-mail: info@minieurope.com
Website: www.minieurope.com
Transport: Métro Heysel; bus 84 or 89; tram 23 or 81.
Opening hours: Daily 0930-2000, (Jul-Aug); daily 0930-2400 (late Jul-late Aug) daily 0930-1800 (Sep-Mar).
Admission: ¬11.80; concessions available.

La Maison d’Erasme (Erasmus House Museum)
Dedicated to the great 15th/16th century traveller and scholar, this interesting museum is located in the Anderlecht district to the west of the city centre, and with the adjacent Anderlecht Convent, is the oldest public museum in Belgium. It houses collections of art, furniture and literature relevant to the time and studies of Erasmus, who stayed in the house in 1521. It also features attractive gardens.

Rue du Chapitre 31
Tel: (02) 521 1383. Fax: (02) 527 1269.
E-mail: info@erasmushouse.museum
Website: www.erasmushouse.museum
Transport: Métro line 1B to St Guidon; tram 56 to St Guidon; bus 49 to Formanoir.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1700.
Admission: ¬1.25.