Oldmasters Museum

The Old Masters Museum is one of the four sites that make up the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, a federal institution whose main entrance is at Rue de la Régence 3, on the slope below the Place Royale in central Brussels. Its permanent route covers painting and sculpture from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, and since 2025 it has been absorbing display sections that reach further forward in time. Tuesday–Friday 10:00–17:00; Saturday–Sunday 11:00–18:00. Standard adult admission to the Oldmasters Museum is €13.

The core of the collection is Southern Netherlandish painting, and it is the reason most visitors come. The fifteenth century is represented by Rogier van der Weyden, Petrus Christus, Dirk Bouts, Hans Memling, Hieronymus Bosch and Gerard David. The Flemish school from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century continues through Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacques Jordaens, and the French and Italian schools appear through Simon Vouet, Philippe de Champaigne, Le Lorrain, Jusepe de Ribera and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

The museum answers this question itself, and its answer is unusually direct. Visitors spend an average of ninety minutes in the museum, and if the intention is to see all the collections it advises allowing half a day to a full day. It is not enough to add the Magritte Museum, which shares the building complex and is a separate route with its own crowd rhythm; a combined visit is a half day, not a long morning. Standard adult admission to the Oldmasters Museum is €13.

The week has two shapes. Tuesday to Friday the museum opens at 10:00 and closes at 17:00; Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays it opens later and closes later, 11:00 to 18:00. It is closed every Monday, which is the single most common wasted journey here. On 24 and 31 December the museum closes at 15:00. Tuesday–Friday 10:00–17:00; Saturday–Sunday 11:00–18:00. The step-free entrance is at Rue de la Régence 1A; ring the bell for access. All galleries are accessible to visitors with reduced mobility. Manual and electric wheelchairs are permitted, but mobility scooters are not.

The admission page prices the Old Masters Museum at 13 euros for an adult. Visitors over 65, and adults in groups of at least fifteen, pay 10 euros. Young people aged 18 to 25, registered jobseekers and integration income beneficiaries pay 5 euros. Standard adult admission to the Oldmasters Museum is €13. The step-free entrance is at Rue de la Régence 1A; ring the bell for access. All galleries are accessible to visitors with reduced mobility. Manual and electric wheelchairs are permitted, but mobility scooters are not. A wheelchair can be borrowed free of charge on site.

No car is needed, and bringing one is the harder option. The entrance at Rue de la Régence 3 is a five-minute walk from Brussels Central station by the museum's own reckoning, uphill through the Mont des Arts. The individual-visitor entrance is Rue de la Régence 3. Brussels Central railway station is nearby. Metro lines 1 and 5 serve Parc and Gare Centrale; trams 92 and 93 serve Royale; buses 33, 38, 71, and 95 serve Royale, while buses 29, 63, 65, and 66 serve Parc or Gare Centrale. All galleries are accessible to visitors with reduced mobility.

Bags are the practical hazard. Large bags, rucksacks and umbrellas must go into the cloakroom, and the museum is explicit that bags are not carried around the route; the cloakrooms are automatic lockers near the ticket desks in the Forum and at the Magritte entrance, free, and emptied the same day. Pushchairs are allowed throughout and lifts serve every floor. The step-free entrance is at Rue de la Régence 1A; ring the bell for access. Manual and electric wheelchairs are permitted, but mobility scooters are not. A wheelchair can be borrowed free of charge on site.

Photographs and video for private use are permitted throughout the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, with conditions the museum sets out plainly. Keep a reasonable distance from the works, watch what is behind and beside you when framing a painting or a statue, and respect other visitors, including anyone who does not want to appear in a picture. Selfie sticks, flash units and other bulky equipment are not allowed. In practice this means handheld, available light, no rig. A wheelchair can be borrowed free of charge on site.