Category Archives: Brussels

Brussels, Destination Features

The Former Palace of Brussels: Coudenberg Archaeological Site

story and photos by Kayte Deioma

The saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” could be the motto of the field of archaeology, where a broken pottery shard, a flint or a chicken bone can elicit more excitement than discovering gold. The archaeologists hit the jackpot in Brussels when new construction in 1995 revealed that the lower levels of the Royal Palace on Coudenberg Hill which burned down in 1731, were left largely intact when they flattened the area in 1774 to build a new royal compound. After a six-year excavation, the restored underground passages were opened to the public in 2001.

You won’t find any of the royal chambers here, but the maze of cellars, kitchens, cesspools,and a street that ran along the outside of the palace give a glimpse of the support system for the Archdukes, and Duchesses, Princes and Emperors who resided here.

The oldest parts of the underground ruins are remnants of the original castle walls from the 12th century. Arches were added to support an expansion of the castle and city fortifications in the 14th century.

The devout Catholicism of the Hapsburgs can be seen in the chapel added to the compound by Emperor Charles V in the first half of the 16th century. Its basic shape remains in the form of a sub-basement, one of two levels built down the hillside so the chapel above would be at palace level.

Part of the chapel cellar now houses an exhibit of the artifacts discovered in the excavation. 16th century chamber pots, book clasps and random utensils were recovered from the cesspools. Heater tiles and a plethora of architectural remains and everyday items were found in the rubble of the Grand Hall. One display case contains a colorful collection of broken bits of 16th century majolica architectural tiles, dinner plates and apothecary vessels.

Interpretive panels also break down the royal family tree, putting into context how the palace’s most famous resident, Charles V, the simultaneous King of Spain, Emperor of Germany and Sovereign of the Low Countries, came to be first emancipated and later abdicated his throne in Brussels.

The Coudenberg site spreads under what is now the Place Royal, Rue Royal, the Musical Instrument Museum, the Fine Art Museum, the Royal Palace, and the Bellevue Museum, which is where you’ll find the entrance to the underground passages. A very thorough printed English language guide is available at the ticket desk. English-speaking tour guides can be hired by appointment.

Former Palace of Brussels:
Coudenberg Archaeological Site
Mont des Arts/Kunstberg
Place des Palais, 7
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Phone: 32 (0)2.545.08.00
Email: info@coudenberg.com
www.coudenberg.com

 

 

Brussels, Kid Stuff

The Flanders Toy Museum in Mechelen

story and photos by Kayte Deioma

There is a small Toy Museum in Brussels, but if you’re this close to the largest toy museum in the world, you might as well take the short half hour train ride to the town of Mechelen.

Mechelen is known for having the first international Carillon School, and being the home of the De Wit Tapestry Factory, which restores tapestries for castles and museums around the world. But its youngest world-class attraction is the Flanders Toy Museum (Speelgoedmuseum), which since opening in 1982, has grown from 7,800 square feet to over 32,000 square feet of space devoted to the display, preservation and interpretation of play things.

The museum is located in a rather drab converted four-story department store, whose showcase windows, although filled with toys, give no hint of the creativity displayed inside.

About 15,000 of the museum’s 20,000 toys are on display at any one time. You have to pass the gift shop and play area before you get to the exhibits, so if you’re visiting with kids, plan a few minutes of playing at the beginning and end of your visit to avert the frustration of not being able to play with the toys on display.

“Everything you see in everyday life you can see in toys” says Museum Director, ??. “We try to show the connections between the objects and society. Through the developments in toys, you can see the evolution of our culture.”

Most of the permanent exhibits are only tagged in Dutch, or Dutch and French, so it’s helpful to hire and English tour guide if you really want to understand the significance of what you are seeing. Guides are available by appointment for 25 euros for one to 25 people.

On the first floor, cases are filled with hand puppets, marionettes and dolls – fabric dolls, wooden dolls, porcelain dolls, and plastic dolls. Some display cases show the work of a particular manufacturer or country. Others show doll play groups set up at a picnic, on a sailing outing, in the kitchen, in a music shop and numerous other settings.

The exhibit on the evolution of the toy typewriter mimics the progress of the real thing, with over 50 examples in the museum’s collection.

A full-size funfair mirror is your welcome to the mechanical Funfair exhibit, with miniature merry-go-rounds, Ferris wheels and other carnival attraction. You’ll also see the museum’s first acquisition, a duo of mechanical clowns from 1880 that do a balancing act.

In a partnership with UNESCO, the museum exhibits toys made by children, folk artists and cooperatives in developing countries. This is one area where tags are also in English, but there’s not a lot of interpretation.

The most creative exhibit by far is the life-size walk-in model of Pieter Bruegel’s 16th century painting, Children’s Games. A poster of the painting, depicting children playing 80 different games, is just outside the entrance. Many of the games illustrated, like leap frog or cartwheels, don’t require toys, and the space in the painting where these things are going on is empty in the room, waiting for groups of kids to fill the space. Examples of the playthings that are evident in the painting are on display in glass cases at grade-school-child viewing level. Some of these include knuckle bones (the precursor to Jax), jump ropes, darts, marbles, hoops and tops.

A few three dimensional characters from the painting are re-created climbing a fence near the display cases, and many more cutouts are placed in perspective playing into a 3D background. You can walk through Bruegel’s archways to see what’s beyond the painted space.

There is prominent display of model trains on the third floor. This spot was chosen because it has the best view of the real train station and railroad tracks out the window. The tiny town played a significant role in the history of the railroad in Europe. The first train on the continent went from Mechelen to Brussels in 1835.

The history of the “teddy” bear, the evolution of board games from ancient Egypt to the present, wooden blocks with castle turrets and metal building sets from which you could construct the Eiffel Tower, are a few more fascinating exhibits from the permanent collection.

A large part of the third floor is given over to temporary exhibits. For the museum’s 25th anniversary, they created a striking display of the private childhood toy collections of famous Belgians, from actors and musicians to politicians and journalists. An interactive spotlight area was created for each category where you could stand behind a podium to give a press conference, like a politician, be a TV talk show host and see yourself on TV, or be onstage in a band.

For the 50th anniversary of LEGOs, in 2008, they are planning an extensive LEGO exhibit.

If you plan your visit to Mechelen on a Saturday, you can also pay a visit to the exhibit rooms of the DeWit Tapestry Factory (10:30 am) or hear a Carillon performance (11:30 am). English language city tours can be arranged through the Mechelen Tourism Office

Flanders Toy Museum (Speelgoedmuseum Mechelen)
Nekkerspoelstraat 21
2800 Mechelen
Belgium
Phone: (32) (0) 1555 70175
www.speelgoemuseum.be

Mechelen Tourist Office
Hallestraat 2-4-6
2800 Mechelen
Belgium
Phone: (32) (0) 7022 2800
www.inenuitmechelen.be

 

 

Brussels, Going Solo

The Musical Instrument Museum

story and photos by Kayte Deioma

A true gem on the Mont des Arts in Brussels is the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), home to one of the largest collections of musical apparatuses in the world. Founded in 1877 as part of the Royal Museums of Art and History, the museum moved into the former Old England department store, an 1899 masterpiece of Art Nouveau architecture, in 2000. Twelve hundred of the 7,000 instruments in the collection are on display at any given time.

The instruments are labeled in Dutch and French. I was told there was a printed English language guide to help you navigate the museum, but they were all out of them. You can still enjoy the museum without understanding the descriptions since included in the price of admission is an infrared audio tour that plays the music of over 200 of the instruments when you stand near the designated headphone icon.

Listening to the rare and exotic instruments while admiring their artistry and craftsmanship becomes a more sensory experience when there’s no intellectual information to clutter the mind. You can experience the drone of Tibetan trumpets and the sinewy tones of serpent-headed Russian clarinets. In the keyboard section you can hear the difference between the harpsichords, spinets, virginals, clavicytheriums, clavichords and fortepianos.

Strings are also well represented with the work of some the best known luthiers, as well as many one-of-a-kind creations. Examples of stringed instruments from five continents can be compared from ancient times to the present.

Restoration workshops for keyboards and stringed instruments are integrated into the exhibit galleries and show the tools and processes of instrument construction and repair.

You can see a wide selection of brass horns developed by Belgian musician and inventor Adolph Sax, best known for designing the instrument that was to become known as the saxophone. In another direction, you’ll find the evolution of the bagpipe through different cultures around the world.

As if the music weren’t enough of a draw, the view of Brussels from the arched Art Nouveau windows in the 6th floor restaurant shouldn’t be missed. You can go up to the restaurant even if you’re not visiting the museum itself

MIM offers a series of concerts in their auditorium. On the first Wednesday afternoon of the month, the museum is free to the public and also presents a selection of live musical presentations in the exhibit galleries. They also offer family concerts on the free Wednesdays.

English-speaking tour guides can be hired by appointment for general or specific themed tours of MIM.

The Musical Instrument Museum
Montagne de la Cour 2
1000 Brussels, Belgium
General Information: (0) 2. 545.01.30
Groups: (0) 2. 545.01.53
www.museedesinstrumentsdemusique.be