Cinquantenaire Museum gets makeover, changes name

Don’t say Cinquantenaire Museum, say Museum of Art and History. As of next Wednesday, the well-known museum in Cinquantenaire Park will be known by the new name and will have a new website and logo.

The museum, with archaeological collections from Belgium and beyond as well as decorative art including Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Romanesque Art, is also undergoing a renovation. The museum will not close, but areas of it will be inaccessible as they are renovated in turn.

Presentation of some of the collections will be altered, but structural upkeep is also being carried out, particularly to the roof, the plumbing and the reception area.

The museum is home to several world-famous and priceless collections and pieces, particularly its Egyptian collection, which boasts a number of sarcophagi and mummies from various periods as well as an entire burial chamber. The museum also exhibits a rare colossal statue from Easter Island, gifted to it in the 1930s by the Chilean government following a research expedition.

The museum will continue to be part of the collection of Brussels museums known collectively as the Royal Museums of Art and History. These also include the Porte de Hal Museum, the Musical Instruments Museum and the Museums of the Far East.

Photo courtesy RMAH