Aperçu

Located on the edge of Léopold Park, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and its museum comprise four entities. The oldest, on the park side, would have housed a convent at the end of the 19th century, but was immediately converted to house the vast natural science collections. The first major extension was the wing built by architect Émile Janlet, two vast halls in glass, cast iron and steel, designed to present the new Belgian discoveries (iguanodons and the Lier mammoth) in beautiful natural light. Between the wars, architect Lucien De Vestel designed a new extension to the complex, to house offices, laboratories and storage areas. The building took the form of a modernist tower, a welded steel-frame raft with ceramic cladding. The south facade, featuring the museum's main entrance, was clad in porcelain stoneware in 1958, bearing the monogram of Leopold III. The work was spread over more than 20 years, between 1935 and 1958, and was not completed until the 1980s. Not far away, De Vestel also constructed the building for the Belgian Geological Survey, which has been part of the Institute for some years now. This exceptional guided tour takes you beyond the museum spaces to discover what goes on behind the scenes at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. After registering at the museum entrance, your guide will take you up to the first floor to discover the building's model, the first stage of an original tour of the building's upper levels. On the upper floors, marble and architectural details tell the building's story. Your guide will reveal its secrets, as you explore the elegant staircase, a little-known masterpiece with its rare materials, and admire the fossilised ammonites visible in the stone. The route then leads up to the fourteenth floor, with access to the roof and a breathtaking view over Brussels. You will then reach the boardroom on the first floor, a formal space furnished in a resolutely Art Deco style. As a highlight, you will be welcomed into the office of the Institute's Director, who will personally open the doors to his workspace and share the history and contemporary challenges of this unique institution. The tour ends on the same floor, with the option of leaving the building or continuing the discovery by visiting the museum on your own. Photographs are permitted, but only with smartphones.

Practical information

Sunday from 10:30 to 15:00

rue Vautier 29, 1000 Brussels

Advance booking required.

Non accessible

Bookings

Bookings can be made online from the end of the second week of September on this website.

Address
rue Vautier 29, 1000 Brussels