Porte de Hal, Musical Instruments Museum & Cinquantenaire Museum
Brussels is filled with several museums and the first batch I went were the Royal Museums of Art & History. There are 4 museum under this of which 3 are functional and 1 is under renovation. Long back when I was here for Flower Carpet, when I was walking from Atomium, I spotted a Japanese Tower, but didn’t manage to explore it as I didn’t have time. Anyways, what I spotted was the Museum of Far East which is one of the 4 museums under MRAH. Currently it’s under renovation.
One of the functional 3 is Porte de Hal! It looks like a place straight out of a Disney movie, but in the middle of a city! At the first look, it looks like a castle, however it’s a part of the city wall and this served as a gate. This is the only surviving gate! The first wall was built in 13th C and was 4km long. The second wall was of 8km buily in 14th C. This wall had 7 gates and Portehal was one of those. It was originally 23m high and had a moat all around it. By 17th C the wall ceased to be functional and the gates were used for various purposes including granary, church, prison etc.![]()
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In 1868, under architect Hendrik Beyaert this became a museum, who gave this place a fairy-tale castle like appearance with neo gothic features! Today it has 4 floors of which the topmost is play area for kids, the 3rd is a temporary exhibition area. The permanent exhibitions are in 1st & 2nd floor. The 1st floor showcases both the history of the Second Wall as well as some armoury. The 2nd floor is all about the various powerful guilds of Belgium that once existed.
The view from atop is stunning. The best part - both Koekelberg Basilica and Atomium were visible (on either ends of the above pic!). The Palais du Justice is very close by indeed. Go on a sunny day or atleast, a non-rainy day to enjoy the view. I cancelled my first plan to visit Hallepoort when the weather gave up on me!
The 2nd museum under this is the Musical Instruments Museum. This has a rather interesting history. The Museum was originally set up in 1877. The primary reason was because in 1876, Rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore gifted a 100 musical instruments from India to King Leopold II (yes, this Tagore is related to Rabindranath Tagore but was a few generation before him). Looking at this collection, the famous Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis requested to create a museum of those that he could curate himself, and thus began the existence of this museum. The museum is located inside a fantastic Art Noveau building, which was originally the Old England Departmental store, built in 1899 by Paul Saintenoy.
The display is in 4 floors and we began from the topmost. This is dedicated to keyboards beginning from centuries ago to now! The early 16th C Virginals were the most interesting for me, esp. the painted details on it! The most bejeweled one here was an upright piano which was a gift from Queen Marie-Henriette. There were also replica of ancient Greek pottery that were about musical instruments. There were also some wind instruments which were really weird. The Serpent Chandelier of 1790-1810 was the weirdest of them all! Its origins is unknown, but believed to be used in the medieval Gregorian Chants. In the next floor were the western instruments from ages ago to now. The ceramic whistles were total cute! The first floor is the most extensive floor. This has 3 sections - Belgian in centre, European to the left and rest of the world to the left. Here’s where some of the original instruments by Rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore are displayed.
The Tibetian musical instruments made of human bones (a trumpet made of thigh bone) and human skull were particularly intriguing. Jew’s Harp was the English cousin of Indian Morsing! The side blown trumpets of Africa were another interesting thing. The underground floor has some automated musical instruments.
The other museum is the largest in Belgium and one of the largest in Europe called the Cinquantenaire Museum located in the Cinquantenaire park where the Auto World is also located. This has primarily 2 wings - one which is more art oriented and another which is more historically oriented, in multiple levels. I primarily explored the art oriented wing, which began with a section just for heart and went ahead with a section for tapestries where I spent the most time. The best way for me to show around it is with this video! There was also a model loom to explain how tapestry is woven.
Other artistic displays included wooden altar sculptures, glass works incl stained glass windows and crockery etc.
The archaeology section was fantastic with, the pottery, jewelry, reimagined models of ancient Belgium. There’s also 6 skeletons displayed underground with glass ceiling with arms, jewelry, pottery etc! This was followed by Roman Civilization.
The left wing has several sections dedicated to several locations incl India, China, Nepal, Srilanka, Native America etc. Sadly the whole museum is so vast that I didn’t have time to explore this section at all! I just had a peek at India section which has samples of Chola bronzes, Gandhara sculptures and a few more.
P.S: Check out here to know what I wore to Porte de Hal, MIM & Cinquantanaire Museums.
To Get There:
Porte de Hal: Nearest metro - Hallepoort
Musical Instruments Museum: Nearest metro - Gare Centrale or Parc
Cinquantenaire Museum: Nearest metro - Schuman
Entry Tickets & Timings:All 3 have free entry with Brussels Card.Porte de Hal: €7; 9:30AM to 5:00PMMusical Instruments Museum: €10; 10:00AM to 5:00PMCinquantenaire Museum: €10; 10:00AM to 5:00PMAll 3 are closed on Mondays.
P.S: I was invited by Royal Museums of Art & History to experience their museums for review purpose, however the opinions are my own and this post does not to advertise the product/service.
