Belgium‘s museumPASSmusées or Museum Pass looks back ont 2023 and forward to 2024. In 2023, museumPASSmusées included over 235 participating museums all over Belgium. In Flanders, the Brussels-Capital Region and Wallonia.

Which museums did people miss this year? Which themes affected museum visitorsq the most and do you know how much difference there is between the youngest and oldest pass holder? This is the Museum Pass ‘wrapped’ (as it is now fashionable ti call).

Which museums did people visit the most?

With more than 235 museums, there is a lot to choose from. People traveled to all corners of Belgium to discover the most diverse collections, but some museums attracted a lot of people. These are the most visited museums per province. Have you been there yet?

• Antwerp: the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp or KMSKA.
• Brussels: BOZAR, Center for Fine Arts.
• Hainaut: Center for Innovation and Design of Grand-Hornu or CID.
• Limburg: Bokrijk Open Air Museum.
• Liège: La Boverie.
• Luxembourg: Mudia.
• Namur: Félicien Rops Museum.
• East Flanders: S.M.A.K.
• Flemish Brabant: M Leuven.
• Walloon Brabant: Folon Foundation.
• West Flanders: Mu.ZEE.

With more than 100,000 visits, November 2023 became the best visitor month ever! Most of those trips took place during the autumn holidays, in the week from 30 October to 5 November. That week was good for more than 35,000 visits. 

Which exhibitions caught most attention?

The museums presented hundreds of exhibitions again this year. From local artists to great masters, from painting to multimedia: you got a taste of the different subjects. 

These were among the top 5:

1. ‘Anna Boch‘ in Mu.ZEE (past) – a journey through the impressionist oeuvre of the Belgian artist.
2. ‘Expedition Egypt‘ in Museum Art & History (past) – the most beautiful archaeological discoveries from the land of the pharaohs.
3. ‘Theodoor Rombouts‘ in MSK Ghent (past) – the first monographic exhibition ever dedicated to the Baroque master.
4. ‘Krasse Koppen‘ at the KMSKA (runs until January 21) – about the genre of the tronie: small, penetrating paintings of the face.
5. ‘Dieric Bouts‘ in M Leuven (runs until January 14) – about the Leuven city painter and how he continues to inspire today

MuseumPASSmusées welcomed many new users. “It is nice to see that more and more people are becoming enthusiastic about museums Did you know that the youngest pass holder is only 2 years old? Wonderful, that early museum love! No one is too young, but no one is too old for the museum pass: the oldest pass holder already has 94 candles on the birthday cake”, the organisation says.

Visual arts, history and archaeology were the most popular themes.

2024

What will 2024 bring? 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the death of James Ensor, the Ostend painter best known for his masks and skeletons. As a tribute, various museums put the Belgian grandmaster in the spotlight. With a whole series of exhibitions you can get to know the man behind the mask better little by little. From his intriguing still lifes to his idiosyncratic characters.

The kick-off of the Ensor Year was already given by Mu.ZEE in Ostend. In the exhibition ‘Rose, Rose, Rose à mes yeux!‘ you zoom in on the still lifes of both Ensor and his contemporaries. 

The crescendo will start from 2024: more exhibitions will open in the spring in the James Ensor House (Ostend), BOZAR (Brussels) and KRB Museum , The Royal Library Museum. KBR stands for Koninklijke BibliotheeK/Bibliothèque Royale.

More treats will follow later in the year with a second exhibition in the James Ensor House and with a series in four Antwerp museums, including the KMSKA, Museum Plantin-Moretus, FOMU and MoMu.

Amateur talent

The Ensor Year will also be the theme for a new edition of ‘The National Expo‘. Edition Ensor, a project by museumPASSmusées and VRT in KBR, starts on 22 February. 

“Together we look for hidden talent in the visual arts: from painting to ceramics, from drawing to mixed media. Not only adults, but also creative children and young people can participate. Whoever wins will receive a place in KBR, the museum of the Royal Library of Belgium.”

Exhibitions

In addition to the permanent collection, many museums organise temporary exhibitions. In February Bozar will pay tribute to surrealism in Belgium. The famous avant-garde movement has been around for 100 years, so that requires a thorough retrospective with many big names.

CID, Center for Innovation and Design in Grand-Hornu presents ‘Superpower Design‘ in March and makes you think about design and its relationship to the human body. 

“In addition to the Ensor exhibitions, ‘Rebel Garden‘ in three Bruges museums is also worth seeing. Ancient and current art examine the tumultuous relationship between humans and nature: a strong look at the climate crisis.”

Reopenings

In 2023, BPS22 in Charleroi and Gaasbeek Castle, among others, reopened. Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image imprimée in La Louvière and the Bakery Museum in Veurne (Furnes) reopened in December, after a short closure.

But where will the doors open again in 2024? One of these is the Hof van Busleyden Museum in Mechelen (Mechlin). In the spring you are welcome again for an exhibition about the Knights of the Golden Fleece, in which the museum unravels a myth.

Museum Pass?

“MuseumPASSmusées is the key to more than 235 Belgian museums. The pass offers one year of access to the participating museums and their beautiful collections. You can also visit temporary exhibitions for free or with a significant discount. The list of participating museums is constantly expanding.”

Museums in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels are working together on the project. 

This is unique in the Belgian landscape. 

The purpose of the pass is twofold: on the one hand, to increase the visibility of the institutions and on the other hand, to lower the threshold for culture. The initiative, taken by the entire Belgian museum sector, testifies not only to a constructive dynamic, but also to their continued concern to facilitate access to our heritage.

MuseumPASSmusées has been around since 2018. The annual fee is 59 euros. 

The Belgian pass is managed by the cvba-so museumPASSmusées, which was founded by four organizations: the Brussels Museum Council, the Flemish Museum Consultation, ICOM Belgique/Wallonie-Bruxelles/Musées et Société and Wallonie and publiq.