Museums across Belgium in July saw a remarkable increase in visitors – both local and international – due to the many rainy days, with an increase ranging from 20% more tickets sold to even doubling or tripling.
In the Brussels-Capital Region as well as the rest of the country, museums are all reporting higher visitor numbers than usual, with many seeing a tripling compared to the same month last year, a survey by VRT shows.
Museums in the capital
The Art & History Museum at Parc du Cinquantenaire, where the Expedition Egypt exhibition is running, registered more than 10,000 archaeology fans – three times as many as last July. The musical instrument museum MIM saw a third more people.
The capital's Royal Museums of Fine Arts counted more than 70,000 visitors in July – up from around 50,000 in July 2022. However, the museums did have free admission on 21, 22 and 23 July, on the occasion of King Philippe's ten-year reign: in those three days, 15,000 interested people visited.
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Queen Mathilde of Belgium pictured during a royal visit to the new exhibition 'Expedition Egypt' at the Art and History Museum.
Credit: Belga / Eric Lalmand[/caption]
The BELvuemuseum in Brussels has no concrete figures yet, but estimated that "a third more people" visited, both for the permanent collection and the temporary exhibition with Art Nouveau treasures. Also in Brussels, the Comic Museum had "the best July ever," with 24,134 visitors, beating the previous record of 22,595 people from July 2019, the last summer before Covid-19.
At Trainworld in the municipality of Schaerbeek, with its Animalia expo, visitors closely follow the weather forecast. The last week of July saw an increase in visitors of 63%.
Culture across Belgium
Museums in the rest of the country are seeing a similar – albeit smaller – trend.
The M museum in the city of Leuven (Flemish Brabant province) is speaking of "the best of both worlds." During the first summer weekends, many families came for activities in the museum garden and people were just looking to cool off. Now that it has been raining for several weeks, "we see a very big increase." Compared to July last year, 35% more people are finding their way to the museum.
The Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren (Limburg province) reported 28% more guests in July than in the same month last year: almost 7,000 people visited. The museum does not have a new exhibition this summer, but it does have a "feel trail" – where people are invited to touch the objects in the permanent exhibition.
Gallo-Roman Museum, in Tongeren. Credit: Belga / Marc Dirix
At the Huis van Alijn in Ghent (East Flanders), visitor numbers are peaking as well: from around 200 a day, the museum is now counting up to 450 and even 500 visits. Thanks to the rain, but also to the exhibition of objects from the 1990s, which is liked by both nostalgic adults and curious children. "It is a hit; people are queuing up outside," Lorenzo Mortier, a specialist at the museum said.
Also in Ghent, the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, the S.M.A.K., had 4,752 visitors in July, up from 3,752 in the same month last year – a 26% increase.
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In Bruges, too, 17% more people went to see the Groeninge Museum's masterpieces, from Van Eyck to Raveel; the Church of Our Lady received almost a fifth more visitors. The Town Hall was also popular (+60%) and the Volkskundemuseum received 50% more visitors. "We see a lot of Belgians, including people staying on the coast and looking for another activity. We also see more Dutch and French, but international tourism is still not at the pre-Covid level," said Elviera Velghe of Musea Brugge.
Painting 'De Intrige' pictured at the KMSKA Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp on Monday 26 June 2023. Credit: Belga / Tijs Vanderstappen
With more than 15,000 visitors, Mu.ZEE in Ostend (at the coast) "did extremely well" in the month of July, said Director Dominique Savelkoul, explaining that this is partly due to the new exhibition on Belgian impressionist Anna Boch. At the beginning of July, around 600 people came per day; now there are peaks of 1,300 visitors in one day. Mu.ZEE is considering longer opening hours to possibly accommodate more people.
Lastly, it is difficult for the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp (KMSKA) to compare with July last year, as the museum only reopened in September after a major renovation. Still, there is no doubt that rain is doing the museum a lot of good: there has been "a doubling in visitor numbers compared to the weeks when there was good weather."
