Described by Condé Nast as "one of Europe’s highly anticipated arrivals", which makes Brussels one of the best places to go in 2026, the Kanal-Centre Pompidou Museum has finally opened reservations.
Brussels' new museum of modern and contemporary art will open on 28 November at 10:00, and has already started selling tickets. The opening weekend is free, but visitors are still required to make a reservation.
While the rest of the museum will open as planned on 28 November, the architecture centre and collections will be delayed following a fire in July.
The museum, which is based at the former Citroën factory on the Brussels canal, has been in development for ten years.
A partnership between the Brussels-Capital Region, Kanal Museum and Paris' Centre Pompidou, the museum has been described by its director, Yves Goldstein, as "the biggest museum to open in Brussels in more than a century."
Credit: Atelier Kanal
With a surface area of 40,000 m², the museum is also set to be one of the largest in Europe, and it will be put to good use from the start.
The main opening exhibit, A truly immense journey, will feature art drawn from the Centre Pompidou's Paris collection, displayed across a 2000 m² exhibition space over three floors.
The collection, An infinite woman, will explore how the image of a Mangbetu woman grew into a colonial symbol and how artists have reused that symbol since.
These will feature alongside nine other exhibitions, live arts performances and other events.
Visitors can also dine at the restaurant on the fifth floor or visit the rooftop bar for panoramic views of the Brussels skyline.
