The Brussels Sewer Museum will host a special exhibition starting from Friday 15 September, for its first themed year on one of the most reviled species on the planet: rats.
Through the main interactive exhibition, family events, workshops and conferences, Rattus aims to demystify the little-studied synanthrope – an animal that is neither wild nor domesticated, but something in between.
The idea to host an exhibition on rats was born from museum visitors, who often ask the museum staff whether they see rats around the institution.
The museum is, after all, built on top of, around and inside of a sewage tunnel under the Porte de Anderlecht.
Although rats live in surprisingly close contact with humans, sewage workers confirm that rats in Brussels mostly keep to themselves. Rodents may be spotted during either the first or last museum tours of the day.
In fact, experts are still unable to estimate the rat population size in Brussels.
Rats have truly adapted to live alongside humans – more specifically, alongside human waste – impressively fast, and yet they remain a little-studied species. The museum curator claims that humans know more about salmons and blue whales than about rats.
Aude Hendrick presenting the Rattus exhibition. Credit: The Brussels Times/Margherita Bassi
"The point of the exhibition is to honour our roommate," Aude Hendrick, Managing Curator at the Sewer Museum, laughed.
The goal is not just to sort out some of the stereotypes around rats, but also to inspire scientists to pay more attention to these highly intelligent rodents beyond their use in lab experiments, an endeavour for which over 600,000 rats are used a year in Europe.
Sewer Museum
The permanent exhibition guides visitors through various aspects of sewers, including the history of the Brussels sewers, the role of sewage workers as well as ecological aspects of human waste production.
Visitors discover which myths are true (yes, rats can technically enter your toilet by crawling through the plumbing) and which are false (no, rats did not spread the plague, flees did). Furthermore, museum-goers can visit a photography exhibition by urban wildlife photographer Thomas Jean.
"La Minute Sauvage" Photography exhibition by Thomas Jean in the Sewer Museum. Credit: The Brussels Times/Margherita Bassi
Every third Sunday of the month until 16 June 2024, "Family Sundays" sees playful activities organised around science, art and storytelling to introduce children to the underground world of Brussels.
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"We really want to become a welcoming place for families. We already have a lot of school visits, and we also want to be a destination that awakens scientific culture," explained Hendrick.
As for adults, a city walk is organised on 4 November 2023, 12 April 2024, and 10 May by photographer Thomas Jean, who will shed new light on urban wildlife. A conference on the responsible urban management of rats is organised for 23 February 2024 and will address the issue of unsustainable rat disinfestation practices.
