Colonisation, critically
A section on the Congo presented as confrontation rather than celebration, rare in a national museum.
Diego Delso โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท FrDr โ CC BY 4.0 ยท FrDr โ CC BY 4.0 ยท FrDr โ CC BY 4.0
Yes if you can. Belgium is hard to read from the street: the language divide, the complicated federalism and the colonial history all explain what you see later in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia. Ninety minutes here at the start makes the rest of the trip clearer.
The remains of the old royal palace that stood here and burned in 1731. After the fire the ruins were levelled and the present square built over them, leaving the lower floors and streets preserved underground. They are visited today along passages, an entirely different experience from the museum above.
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The museum of Belgian history, in an eighteenth-century mansion directly facing the royal palace. It covers the country from independence in 1830 to the present. Its real value is that it explains Belgium to people who do not understand it, and Belgium is genuinely hard to understand: a country created in 1830 by European decision more than popular movement, split between two languages and two communities, and turned into a complicated federal state to avoid coming apart. The museum presents that frankly rather than offering a polished national story. It also covers the colonisation of the Congo, both world wars and the occupations, and immigration, subjects treated critically rather than celebrated. The museum connects directly to the Coudenberg archaeological site beneath it: the remains of the old royal palace that burned in 1731, whose streets and halls are visited underground. The combined ticket between them is the sensible choice.
A section on the Congo presented as confrontation rather than celebration, rare in a national museum.
A state made by European decision and split by language โ the museum does not simplify it.
Remains of the royal palace that burned in 1731, its streets visited underground.
Place des Palais, Brussels