The smart headphones
Each instrument's sound plays as you stand before it.
Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer) — CC BY 4.0 · Robin Davis — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Thomas Quine — CC BY 2.0 · Thomas Quine — CC BY 2.0
Very — the auto-playing headphones make it a discovery game, and the strange instruments captivate them. Among Brussels' best family museums along with the Comics Art Museum. Ninety minutes suffice, then the rooftop café with its view is the closing reward.
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The Musical Instruments Museum is among the world's most important instrument museums, in one of Brussels' finest Art Nouveau buildings: the former "Old England" department store (1899, Paul Saintenoy) with its façade of black iron and glass — an architectural gem in itself on Mont des Arts. The collection holds about 8,000 instruments, of which 1,200 are displayed. The secret of its pleasure is listening: you wear headphones that automatically play the sound of each instrument you stand before — so you hear harpsichords, organs, African harps and Eastern instruments being played while seeing their strange shapes and beauty. Themed floors: instruments of the peoples, the Western orchestra, keyboards, mechanical instruments. On the top floor is a café with a panoramic view over Brussels from the building's terrace — among the city's loveliest cafés. On the Place Royale beside Magritte — for families and music lovers.
Each instrument's sound plays as you stand before it.
Black iron and glass from 1899 on Mont des Arts.
A Brussels panorama from the building's terrace.
Montagne de la Cour 2, 1000 Brussels