Musical Instruments Museum (MIM): Art Nouveau and music
Brussels: Brussels 49 Museums Atomium and Discounts Card
Is the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels worth visiting?
Yes — the MIM is a double draw: a world-class collection of 1,200+ instruments (with audio headphones that play each as you approach) housed in the spectacular Art Nouveau 'Old England' building, whose rooftop restaurant is currently closed for renovation (check the MIM website for reopening). Great for music lovers, architecture fans and anyone wanting a rainy-day highlight. Allow 1.5–2 hours.
A music museum inside an Art Nouveau jewel
The Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) is one of Brussels’ most delightful surprises — and a rare case where the building is as much a reason to visit as the collection. It occupies the “Old England”, a striking black iron-and-glass Art Nouveau former department store built in 1899 by architect Paul Saintenoy, and inside holds a world-class assembly of 1,200+ instruments across cultures and centuries. Its rooftop restaurant is currently closed for renovation (check the MIM website for reopening). Music lover or not, it’s a winner. See it among the best museums.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Where | Rue Montagne de la Cour, Mont des Arts, near Grand-Place |
| Cost | Modestly priced ticket; covered by the Brussels Card and multi-museum passes |
| Time needed | Around 1.5-2 hours |
| Getting there | Short uphill walk from the Grand-Place, or metro to Gare Centrale |
| Best time | Weekday mornings, or a sunny afternoon for the Mont des Arts gardens nearby |
The MIM is also, quietly, one of the better architectural experiences in Brussels — not just because the building is beautiful, but because it represents something specific: in 1899, a department store architect chose to build something genuinely avant-garde on the conservative Place Royale. The Old England stood out then as deliberately confrontational, a piece of commercial modernism in a neoclassical square. Today that confrontation reads as art.
The building
The “Old England” is one of the finest Art Nouveau commercial buildings in Brussels — which is saying something, given the city’s extraordinary stock of the style. The black-painted wrought-iron frame, the curved glass bay windows, the ornate ironwork at the cornice: it stands in deliberate contrast to the classical stone grandeur of Place Royale around it. Paul Saintenoy designed it as a flagship for the Old England department store chain, and the transparency of the iron-and-glass façade was both a structural achievement and a marketing strategy — showing the goods inside from the street.
When the original Old England department store closed, there were serious proposals to demolish it in the 1970s. Its conversion into the MIM in 2000 was widely celebrated as precisely the right use: the open floors and excellent light make it ideal for a collection of objects that need to be seen clearly from multiple angles. Stop on Rue Montagne de la Cour before entering to look at the whole façade — it’s one of Brussels’ hidden Art Nouveau gems.
The clever audio system
The MIM’s signature feature: infrared headphones that you wear throughout. As you walk up to an instrument, the system automatically plays a recording of it — so you don’t just see a 17th-century harpsichord or a Javanese gamelan, you hear it in its full voice. It turns a museum of silent objects into a living soundscape, and it works extraordinarily well.
A 16th-century lute begins playing lute music as you lean in. A Congolese thumb piano fills your ears with its specific timbre. A glass harmonica — one of the stranger instruments ever invented — chimes as you approach. Each encounter is both educational and aesthetically satisfying. The audio system was genuinely innovative when introduced and remains one of the best implementations in any museum anywhere.
For children, the effect is immediately magical — instruments that look like strange objects suddenly announce themselves with their voices. For adults who aren’t particularly musical, it provides a direct pathway into the collection that reading display panels doesn’t.
The collection
European instruments from the Renaissance to today — keyboards, strings, brass, woodwind, the bizarre and the beautiful. The keyboard collection is particularly strong: historic harpsichords, early fortepianos, unusual variants of established forms. A 19th-century saxhorn, a glass harmonica, a viola d’amore — instruments that no longer exist in living performance but that the MIM keeps audible.
Folk and traditional instruments from Belgium and Europe — the tools of village music-making across the centuries, showing how locally distinct the European folk instrument tradition was before mass production homogenised it.
Non-Western instruments from across the world — a serious ethnomusicology collection with objects from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. The collection has its roots in the 1880s Belgian colonial project (uncomfortable in origin but musically significant in scope); today it’s curated with appropriate context.
Mechanical and historic curiosities — automatons, early recording devices, self-playing instruments and the predecessors of electronic music. This section rewards the visitor who has run out of enthusiasm for conventional instruments and is looking for something unexpected.
Allow 1.5–2 hours, more for enthusiasts. The collection rewards slow exploration; the audio system encourages you to linger at instruments you’d otherwise walk past in 30 seconds.
The rooftop restaurant and view
The rooftop restaurant at the top of the building has been one of the best viewpoints in Brussels — a panoramic sweep over the lower town rooftops, the spires of the cathedral, the Atomium on the horizon on a clear day, and the dramatic landscape of the Mont des Arts below. The restaurant is currently closed for renovation, so do not count on it as a viewpoint; check the MIM website for reopening.
Once it reopens, go on a sunny afternoon when the light is good. In the meantime, the Mont des Arts gardens below offer the ground-level equivalent of the same panorama.
Practical info
- Where: Rue Montagne de la Cour, on the Mont des Arts, upper town — short uphill walk from the Grand-Place, near the Magritte Museum and Royal Fine Arts.
- Tickets: modestly priced; covered by museum passes (Brussels Card, and a multi-museum card).
- Closed Mondays; check current hours before going.
- The rooftop restaurant is currently closed for renovation; check the MIM website for reopening before planning around the view.
Combine on the Mont des Arts
The MIM sits in Brussels’ cultural cluster, so pair it for a rich half-day:
- MIM — instruments and building. (~1.5 hrs)
- Magritte Museum next door — surrealism, 200+ works (guide). (~1.5 hrs)
- Royal Museums of Fine Arts — Bruegel, Rubens, Flemish masters (guide). (~1.5 hrs)
- Mont des Arts gardens and viewpoint — a brief, pleasant interlude between museums.
A brilliant, weatherproof culture day in a compact area — all within 10 minutes’ walk of each other. The MIM is the overlooked member of this trio; start there before it fills up, then cross to the heavier hitters.
How it compares to its Mont des Arts neighbours
Three museums cluster within a few minutes’ walk of each other, and each rewards a different kind of visitor. The Magritte Museum is the deepest single-artist dive and the busiest of the three, particularly around midday (guide). The Royal Museums of Fine Arts is the broadest collection — Bruegel, Rubens, centuries of Flemish painting — and needs the most time if you want to do it justice (guide).
The MIM sits between the two in scale but offers something neither does: an experience built around sound rather than sight, which makes it the natural first stop before your ears (and feet) tire from gallery walking. If you can only fit two museums into a Mont des Arts morning, pairing the MIM with whichever of the other two matches your interest — art history or old masters — makes for a well-paced half-day without the fatigue of trying to do all three seriously in one visit.
Getting the timing right
Arrive close to opening if you want the galleries quiet — the MIM is popular with both tour groups and families, and the infrared headphone system means a crowded room can mean overlapping music rather than the clean, isolated audio the museum is designed around. Late afternoon on a weekday is the other reliable quiet window. The rooftop restaurant is currently closed for renovation; check the MIM website for reopening before planning your visit around it.
Making the most of your visit
Treat the MIM as a slow museum. The headphones reward patience: the longer you stand in front of an instrument, the more the recording draws you into the sound, and it is easy to find yourself lingering over a display you would have ignored in a silent gallery. Resist the urge to cover every floor at a march. Pick the sections that interest you most, give them real time, and let the rest be a lighter skim. If you are travelling with a mixed group, agree a meeting point in the entrance hall and let everyone follow their own pace through the galleries.
Start with the sections that feel closest to your own taste. Keyboard enthusiasts can head straight for the harpsichords and early pianos, while curious beginners often find the non-Western instruments and the mechanical curiosities the most surprising. Moving between very different sound worlds in a single visit is part of the pleasure: a delicate European string instrument in one room, a resonant percussion instrument from another continent a few steps later.
Looking at the building properly
Many visitors arrive, collect their headphones and never really look at the architecture, which is a pity. Take a moment inside to notice how the iron frame, the glass and the light work together. The building was designed to show off goods to shoppers, and the same openness now shows off instruments to visitors. Walk toward the windows when you can and look back across the floor; the structure reads very differently from a distance than it does at arm’s length.
If the building has caught your imagination, the MIM makes a natural starting point for a wider look at the style. Continue with the Art Nouveau guide to Brussels, follow the Art Nouveau walking route, or visit the Horta Museum and the Victor Horta houses to see the style in its domestic form. For a guided introduction, a short walking tour of Art Nouveau Brussels gives the context that makes the MIM façade easier to appreciate. You can compare the options in our guide to the best Art Nouveau tours.
Visiting with children
The MIM is a good choice for families because the sound does the work of keeping children engaged. Younger visitors tend to enjoy the game of finding which instrument is playing and what it looks like. Encourage them to lean in, listen and guess before they read the label. A calm, unhurried approach works better than trying to tick off a list, and a break partway through helps. For more ideas, see our guides to family things to do in Brussels and Brussels with kids, or the two-day family itinerary.
Slotting the MIM into a wider plan
Because the museum is compact and weatherproof, it fits easily into several kinds of trips. On a wet day it anchors an indoor plan, as described in our rainy day itinerary and the blog’s rainy day survival notes. On a short city break it pairs well with a first look at the centre in one day in Brussels or the two-day plan. If you are thinking about how many sights to pay for, the guides to the Brussels Card versus individual tickets will help you decide whether a pass suits your plans. Travellers who like to build a wider cultural programme can also look at the Comic Art Museum and the Brussels comic strip route for a very different kind of visual culture.
Getting there and getting around
The museum sits in the upper town, so the approach is a gentle climb from the lower town. If you would rather not walk uphill, use public transport; our guide to getting around Brussels by STIB explains how the network works. Visitors with mobility needs can consult the accessible Brussels guide and check directly with the museum before travelling. For a wider choice of places to sleep within easy reach of the Mont des Arts, see where to stay in Brussels and the overview of the best neighbourhoods.
The verdict
Worth it — and underrated. The combination of a world-class, audible collection, a gorgeous Art Nouveau building, and headphones that bring each instrument to life make the MIM one of the most enjoyable museums in Brussels for a modest ticket price. The audio system is genuinely clever; the building is beautiful. Don’t skip it because you’re focused on Magritte or the Fine Arts — spend 90 minutes here first, and the whole Mont des Arts morning becomes one of the city’s most complete cultural experiences.
Frequently asked questions — Musical Instruments Museum (MIM): Art Nouveau and music
What is special about the MIM in Brussels?
Two things: the building (a black iron-and-glass Art Nouveau former department store, the 'Old England') and the audio system — infrared headphones automatically play recordings of the instruments as you stand before them. The rooftop restaurant, known for its panoramic view over Brussels, is currently closed for renovation; check the MIM website for reopening.Where is the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels?
On the Mont des Arts in the upper town (Rue Montagne de la Cour), near the Magritte Museum and Royal Museums of Fine Arts — a short walk uphill from the Grand-Place. It's easy to combine with the other Mont des Arts museums.
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