Experience

BRUSSELS | KBR Museum reopens on 23 May 2025

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The Royal Library of Belgium‘s KBR Museum, the place where the manuscript collection of the Dukes of Burgundy shines, will reopen its doors on 23 May 2025. Thanks to a unique musical experience, visitors can now enjoy the magical polyphony from the 15th and 16th centuries in the museum. 

Tourism Flanders supports this project financially.

New musical experience

In the KBR Museum, visitors are immersed in the fascinating cultural, artistic and intellectual life in our regions from the 14th to the 16th century. In addition to – often beautifully illuminated – manuscripts from the library of the Burgundian dukes, KBR exhibits a regularly changing selection of manuscripts, prints, prints, paintings, sculptures and objects from its rich heritage collections and those of several partner institutions.

With the ‘Polyphonic Masters’ project, the museum is adding a new, polyphonic story. We explain how the Franco-Flemish polyphonists, just like the Flemish primitives in painting and the miniaturists in manuscripts, played a prominent role in the Low Countries in the 15th and 16th centuries. 

Our regions set the musical tone: our composers, singers and musicians built an international career and worked at the courts of popes and princes. At that time, Franco-Flemish polyphony was the export product par excellence.

Connection with Brussels

Polyphony is brought to life in various places in the museum and in an interactive and innovative way. In addition, the tone will also be set in the new lift that connects the Kunstberg / Mont des Arts with the KBR roof terrace, which will also open in the spring of 2025. 

On the way to the most beautiful view of Brussels, visitors will be able to listen to the voices that resound in the vibrant and diverse capital. On the roof terrace, there will be an interactive installation in which Brussels sounds will be given a place. An ideal warm-up for the masterpieces in the KBR Museum.

Belgium has been hiding a treasure for 600 years

“Six centuries ago, Brussels belonged to the rich and powerful Dukes of Burgundy. Skilled politicians and cultured patrons, they established a stirring treasure, a unique and fascinating collection of manuscripts: the Library of the Dukes of Burgundy“, the KBR Museum says.

“These masterpieces, which have survived the ravages of time and history, have been looked after by KBR and can now be admired at the KBR museum. Explore Europe’s medieval cultural past and then admire the magnificent illuminated manuscripts from the ducal library.”

A museum for everyone

Everybody is different, and so is every museum visit. Choose which course you want to follow in the museum:

  • In-depth tour: Savour the knowledge from Dukes’ library. We offer in-depth information on all the documents on display. Take the time to explore each piece in detail.
  • Discovery tour: Everything you need to know, in a nutshell. The explanations are shorter, but equally historically correct.
  • Children’s tour: Child-friendly explanations – secretly also fun for adults.

Are you visiting the museum with children? Be sure to read the page about the children’s tour and discover how there is something for every age.

A page is turned every six months

Did you know that a manuscript is too fragile to be on display all the time? In order to protect them, we change the exhibits two times a year.

Museum experience

There is a lot to experience at the KBR Museum. Characters from the manuscripts dance on the ceiling and whisper in your ear. You can also touch: feel the materials from which a manuscript is made.

Do you prefer to get hands-on with history? Design your own miniature, test your copying skills or date a manuscript on the screens you activate with your digital bracelet.

The Royal Library of Belgium

The Royal Library of Belgium (Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België; Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique; Königliche Bibliothek Belgiens), abbreviated as KBR and sometimes nicknamed Albertine in French or Albertina in Dutch, serves as Belgium’s national library. Its origins date back to the era of the Dukes of Burgundy. 

In the latter half of the 20th century, a new building was constructed on the Mont des Arts / Kunstberg in central Brussels, near Brussels-Central Railway Station. 

The library houses several historically significant collections, including the Library of the Dukes of Burgundy, and serves as a depository for all books published in Belgium or abroad by Belgian authors.

The Royal Library contains four million bound volumes, including a rare book collection of 45,000 works. It holds over 750,000 prints, drawings, and photographs, 150,000 maps and plans, and more than 250,000 objects, ranging from coins to scales and monetary weights. 

Among these is one of the most valuable coins in numismatics, a fifth-century Sicilian tetradrachm. Additionally, the library houses the Centre for American Studies, which includes a collection of 30,000 books available in open stacks, along with U.S. newspapers and databases.

The Royal Library is a reference library only. Patrons must be at least eighteen years old and are required to pay an annual membership fee.

History

The origins of the Royal Library trace back to the 15th-century Library of the Dukes of Burgundy, created by the Burgundians. By the time of Philip the Good’s death in 1467, the library contained around 900 manuscripts, making it one of Europe’s most prestigious collections. 

Illuminated manuscripts from this period featured works by renowned Flemish miniaturists such as Simon Marmion and the Master of Mary of Burgundy. While some manuscripts travelled with the itinerant dukes, the majority remained in the library at the Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels.

Following the death of Charles the Bold in 1477, the ducal library passed to his descendants but suffered neglect, looting, and theft over time. 

On 12 April 1559, Philip II of Spain consolidated the manuscripts at the Palace of Coudenberg, formally establishing the Royal Library of the Low Countries, KBR’s direct predecessor. The ducal library remains the core of KBR’s present collection.

A fire destroyed the Palace of Coudenberg in 1731, causing significant losses to the manuscript collection. Servants attempted to save valuable works by throwing them out of windows, but many manuscripts were lost. The surviving manuscripts were subsequently moved to the palace’s large chapel, which had been spared from the flames.

During the French occupation of Brussels in 1746, approximately half of the Burgundian manuscripts were transferred to Paris. Most were returned in 1770, but further turmoil ensued during the French Revolution. In 1794, the French Republic confiscated a large portion of the manuscripts once again. Following Napoleon’s defeat, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 saw the return of most of these manuscripts to Brussels, although some remained in Paris.

A fire at the Palace of Charles of Lorraine in 1827 caused further damage, particularly to leather and parchment bindings due to extinguishing water. 

Following Belgian independence, the Royal Library of Belgium was officially established on 19 June 1837. That same year, the library acquired the Charles Van Hulthem collection, adding 70,000 volumes. 

Public access was introduced on 21 May 1839 when the library opened in the Palace of Industry, part of the Palace of Charles of Lorraine complex. The collection continued to expand, preserving rare manuscripts such as the ‘Chronicles of Hainaut‘ and lavish ‘Books of Hours‘.

As the collection grew, new facilities were needed. Between 1878 and 1881, new wings were constructed. In 1935, the government decided to erect a new building in honour of King Albert I. Designed by architect Maurice Houyoux, construction began in 1954, and the Royal Library Albert I was inaugurated on 17 February 1969.

In 2019, the library was rebranded as KBR to reflect its evolving role as Belgium’s national library. 

The following year, the KBR Museum opened, permanently exhibiting the historic Library of the Dukes of Burgundy. Today, KBR remains a leading centre for research and cultural heritage, housing millions of manuscripts, books, maps, and digital records.

Collection

With more than six million items spanning 150 km (93 mi) of bookshelves, KBR is Belgium’s largest library. It holds 4.6 million modern printed books, 21,500 magazines, 150,000 maps, 32,000 manuscripts, 300,000 early printed materials, 750,000 prints, drawings, and photographs, 9,200 microfilms, and 50,000 long-playing records.

KBR is organised into six specialist divisions: Coins & Medals, Manuscripts & Rare Books, Maps & Plans, Music, Newspapers & Contemporary Media, and Prints & Drawings. 

Its foundation collections include the Charles Van Hulthem library, acquired in 1837, and the City of Brussels Library, acquired in 1842, which incorporated large portions of the former Royal Library of the Low Countries.

Prints & Drawings Department

KBR’s print room holds Belgium’s largest collection of prints and drawings, totalling over 750,000 works on paper. It ranks among the ten greatest print rooms in the world and includes works by major printmakers such as Albrecht Dürer, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Anthony van Dyck, and Rembrandt. The collection also includes drawings by prominent Netherlandish artists, as well as works by notable Belgian artists such as Félicien Rops, Fernand Khnopff, James Ensor, and Rik Wouters.

Additionally, the print room contains a significant collection of Japanese ukiyo-e prints and Congolese watercolours from the early 20th century. 

The chalcography workshop, established in 1932, preserves over 9,000 historical printing matrices, including the original copper plate of Claude Mellan‘s ‘Face of Christ‘ (1649).

Music Department

KBR’s Music Department is a major centre for preserving music-related documents in Belgium. 

It holds hundreds of thousands of manuscript and printed scores, approximately 100,000 sound recordings, correspondence, concert programmes, and iconographic documents. 

The collection includes works linked to composers such as André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, Henri Vieuxtemps, and César Franck. 

The François-Joseph Fétis Collection, acquired in 1872, remains a significant resource for early music research, including an autograph manuscript of Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘Suite in G minor, BWV 995‘.

KBR Museum

Opened in 2020, the KBR Museum is housed within the restored Nassau Chapel. It showcases an extensive collection of Burgundian-era manuscripts, including the ‘Chronicles of Hainaut’, featuring a miniature by Rogier van der Weyden. The exhibition also presents paintings, sculptures, and historical artefacts providing context for the manuscripts.

Librarium

Librarium is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of books, featuring six thematic halls. The exhibition includes furnished rooms belonging to figures such as Henry van de Velde, Michel de Ghelderode, and Émile Verhaeren. 

The displayed materials are rotated every three months to ensure a dynamic experience for visitors.

Exploring Brussels

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