Page 80 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Belgium & Luxembourg

78  BEL GIUM AND L UXEMBOURG REGION B Y REGION

Musée Charlier, home to one of Brussels’s most fascinating collections of art and furnishings
l Musée Charlier floor and the elegant displays the main buildings of the
of furniture in Louis XV and European Union’s administration
Avenue des Arts 16, 1210 BRU.
City Map 2 F2. Tel (02) 2202691. Louis XVI styles, located on are found.
@ 22, 65, 66. q Madou, Arts-Loi. the first floor. The most recognizable of all
v 29, 63. Open noon–5pm Mon–Thu, the European Union seats is
10am–1pm Fri. & 8 French and z Musée du Jouet the cross-shaped Berlaymont
Dutch only. ∑ charliermuseum.be building, a vast four-pointed
building that was completed
Rue de l’Association 24, 1000 BRU.
This museum was once home City Map 2 F2. Tel (02) 2196168. in 1967 and has since become
to the wealthy collec tor and @ 29, 61, 63, 65, 66. q Botanique, an iconic symbol of the EU’s
patron of arts, Henri Van Madou. v 92, 93. Open 10am–noon growing power. It is the head-
Cutsem. In 1890, he asked the & 2–6pm daily. & - = quarters of the European
young architect Victor Horta ∑ museedujouet.eu Commission, whose workers are,
(see p84) to redesign his house in effect, civil servants of
as an exhibition space for his This well-established toy the EU. The Council of Ministers,
extensive collection. When Van museum, housed in a which comprises representatives
Cutsem passed away, his friend, 19th-century maison de maître of member-states’ governments,
the sculptor Guillaume Charlier, (urban mansion), will delight now meets in the sprawling pink
installed his own art collection visitors of all ages. It contains granite block across the road
in the house. some 25,000 artifacts, dating
Charlier commissioned Horta from 1850 onwards. Adults
to build another museum to will enjoy the nostalgic thrill of
house the Van Cutsem collec- seeing the toys of their youth
tion – the Musée des Beaux-Arts as well as the lead soldiers,
in Tournai (see p188), in western model engines, dolls, rocking
Belgium. After Charlier’s death, horses and wooden jigsaws of
the house was made into a earlier generations. Hands-on
museum in 1928. exhibits have been designed
The Musée Charlier contains to amuse younger visitors.
paintings by several artists,
including portraits by Antoine x Parc du
Wiertz, early landscapes by
Boulenger, Vogels and Khnopff, Cinquantenaire
still lifes by Ensor and other See pp80–81.
Realist and Impressionist works.
The collec tion holds sculptures
by Charlier, as well as glass- c Quartier
ware, silverware and porcelain.
It also has a unique Asian room Européen
with Chinese furniture and City Map 3 B3. @ 12, 21, 22, 27, 36,
wallpaper on display. The 60, 64, 79. q Maalbeek, Schuman.
museum houses tapestries
too – some from the Paris The area at the top of the
studios of Aubusson – set Rue de la Loi and around the Distinctive Art Nouveau curlicues and
along the staircases and first Schuman roundabout is where flourishes on the Maison St-Cyr
For hotels and restaurants see p266 and pp280–83

078-079_EW_Belgium.indd 78 18/10/16 3:01 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm