The ninth edition of the Brussels Art Nouveau Art Deco Festival (BANAD) is taking place in the Belgian capital this weekend. The event offers locals and tourists alike an opportunity to visit buildings not normally open to the public.
Spread over three weekends from Saturday 15 to Sunday 30 March, the BANAD Festival invites people to (re)discover various Brussels districts in three geographical zones (northwest, south and northeast) through the lens of architecture and its iconic styles.
"This edition, the BANAD Festival will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Art Deco," the organisers said in a press statement.
The richly filled 2025 programme puts this style phenomenon in the spotlight by opening the doors to more than 60 buildings including townhouses, private residences, office buildings or apartments, but also public buildings (places of worship, museums, town halls, etc.) as well as old production units or artists' studios. Some of these are rarely or never accessible to the public.
Credit: BANAD
Novelties of this edition include the Averbouch house (designed in 1929 by architect Joseph Diongre), the circular corner house Van Eycken in Schaerbeek (designed in 1933 for André Van Eycken) and the Slagmolder house in Laeken, a fine example of inter-war bourgeois architecture. These have never been open to the public through BANAD.
Other popular spaces include the iconic hotels Solvay, Tassel and Max Hallet, the Saint-Cyr house, the Villa Empain and the Forest town hall.
The tours through these spaces are given by professional guides and offered in several languages so visitors can better understand the architectural style, the state of preservation of these exceptional places and how they were used. Many visits are adapted for people with impaired vision or hearing, limited mobility or other disabilities.
The programme consists of 60% Art Deco locations, 25% Art Nouveau and 15% modernist buildings. Visitors can also expect themed tours on foot or by bike, original lectures, and family activities, not to mention the famous Object Fair and the Salon of Restorers and Experts.
Credit: BANAD
Districts in the spotlight
The first weekend of the event (15 and 16 March) will focus on the Art Deco buildings in the municipalities of Anderlecht, Jette, Koekelberg, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Laeken and Brussels.
During the second weekend (29 and 30 March), buildings and homes in Forest, Ixelles, Saint-Gilles, Uccle and Brussels will welcome visitors.
Finally, on 22 and 23 March, Etterbeek, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Schaerbeek, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Brussels will be at the centre of the programme.
The entire region has dedicated this year to Art Deco to mark the centenary of the creation of this artistic movement. It finds its origins in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris in 1925.
Find more information about BANAD Festival and book your visits here.
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