With Walloon museums opening at night and Tour & Taxis hosting an eclectic collection of street food stands, Brussels certainly has a unique agenda of activities in store this weekend.
Something for the foodies
StrEat Fest, Tour & Taxis, until Sunday 14 May
After a successful first edition last year, StrEat Fest will return to Brussels for another weekend of mouth-watering street food from across the globe.
Credit: Marie-Julie Van de Sijpe/ The Brussels Times
This year's four-day festival will have more than 70 chefs serving up bold, new flavours and giving Brussels a taste of both the country's culture and culinary delights.
Find more information and get tickets here.
Out and about
Cemeteries' Spring, Evere, Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May
After the first edition at the Laeken cemetery in 2022, this unique event allowing people to discover the region's funerary heritage is taking place at the Brussels cemetery in Evere this year. The location is far from what is expected when envisaging a graveyard and almost looks more like a peaceful, landscaped garden.
The Brussels cemetery in Evere. Credit: City of Brussels
Discover the cemetery – which is one of the most extensive green spaces in Brussels – and the remarkable monuments and tombs it houses, including designs by Belgian architect Victor Horta.
Visitors can also take part in one of the multilingual guided tours (including sign language) on the theme of 'Art Nouveau and funerary symbolism', with musical and poetic interludes. There is also a trail and quiz for families with children.
Find more information and book your free spot here.
Brussels vs. Bruxellisation: a guided tour, starting from Place Rogier, Sunday 14 May
This two-hour tour through the capital, organised by a key promoter of Urban Democracy, ARAU, focuses on the effect of the economic and urban planning project often dubbed 'Bruxellisation'. The term refers to the heavily criticised transformation Brussels underwent more than half a century ago at the expense of its inhabitants to make the city a 'true European capital'.
Credit: Belga / Eric Lalmand
With this tour, the group, which has always denounced this transformation, hopes to highlight the legacy "with which residents have to cope as best they can" and discuss the pitfalls that must be confronted today for the future of these districts.
Find more information and reserve your spot here.
Arts, music and culture
Kunstenfestivaldesarts, various locations across Brussels, until 3 June
Originally an international festival dedicated to theatre, dance and performance, Kunstenfestivaldesarts is now expanding to include cinema and the visual arts, cumulating in an array of disciplines that "challenges our understanding of the world."
Credit: KFDA / Lyse Ishimwe
Taking place in more than 20 cultural venues across Brussels as well as in public spaces, it presents unconventional forms of art, aiming to question what it means to create art live on stage and analysing the role of the audience, participant and performer. The festival seeks to engage with the city's inhabitants and asks them to rethink the sometimes stigmatising geography of the Belgian and European capital.
Find more information and get tickets here.
Further afield
European Night of Museums, various locations in Wallonia, Saturday 13 May
Several museums across Wallonia will once again be pulling out all the stops for the European Night of Museums. Aside from giving visitors a unique opportunity to discover their premises in a whole other light (indeed, with very little light!), they will also organise various activities from performances and demonstrations to concerts, workshops and tastings.
Credit: Nuits Européenne des Musées
Additionally, entrance to all participating museums (and some monuments) will be free throughout the evening and there's something for everyone, so it's worth making the most of this wonderful opportunity to explore more of Belgium.
Find more information and get tickets here.
