Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences

First thing to consider when visiting Brussels museums is the Brussels Card. It will most likely save you time and money.

Step into a world of dinosaurs and evolution: the Museum of Natural Science in Brussels is a gigantic construction with over five different exhibitions to hold your interest and interest of children for an entire day. This natural history museum is a living institution with research facilities in the deepest floors preserving and studying animals, fossils and bones from all centuries to bring us new information and findings on the natural world.

The tour begins with the dinosaur’s exhibit, where enormous pre-historic bones hang from the ceilings and are constructed over your head to show you just how big these dinosaurs were when they walked the earth millions of years ago. Once you finish there, go up to level 4 and make your way down through the other exhibits – at the top is the Evolution exhibit which highlights animal evolution over the last few thousand years, following on from the dinosaur era. These exhibits have life-size animals, interactive touchscreens and audio guides that you can pick up to listen to video commentary.

Adjacent to the Evolution exhibit is a journey through Antarctica to see penguins and walk under the bones of a blue whale – the largest mammal on earth. These three exhibits alone would take about 2 hours to explore in detail. But there is more!

Take a flight of stairs down (because the elevators only go up to Level 4) to see the Biodiversity exhibit: insects, sea animals and human pre-history. These are all permanent exhibitions only available in French and Dutch writing. Be aware to take a look inside smaller rooms to explore. In the insect section you will find live stick insects, cockroach-like insects and spiders weaving their webs – not to worry though, they are in glass boxes.

The entire building is brimming with beautiful art nouveau architecture, pay attention to the steel staircases and balustrades, woven into vines and leaves. During the week, school groups will be huddled into corners with teachers talking quietly about the animals, models and diagrams around them.

Open
Tuesday to Friday from 9:30am to 4:45pm; Weekend and school holidays from 10am to 6pm.

Admissions
Adults…€7; student, seniors…€6; 6-17 years…€4.50; 0-5 years…Free
Brussels Card…Free
Group discounts are available for groups with 15 people and more.

Location in Brussels
Located in a small niche of the city, this natural history museum is housed in a cube-shaped building with an enormous black iguanodon guarding its entrance. The easiest way to find it is to stop at metro Trone, walk through Luxembourg station to the front of the European Parliament building and turn right. There are small signs with dinosaurs pointing your way towards the museum.

Address
Museum of Natural Sciences
Rue Vautier 29
1000 Brussels

Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences on map