Charlier Museum

Charlier Museum, located in the heart of Brussels, is housed in a nineteenth-century mansion remodelled by Victor Horta and owned by Henri Van Cutsem, a wealthy collector of art. The museum features various paintings, sculptures, tapestries and various decorative objects that are works of art in themselves.

History of the Museum

In 1890 Henri Van Cutsem commissioned the Art Nouveau architect, Victor Horta to reconstruct his house into a place where he could show his large art collection. After the death of Custem, his friend and sculptor Charlier moved the collector’s art collection to another museum in the south of Belgium and placed his sculptures and artworks in his house instead.

When Charlier died, the building and its art collection were donated to the city of Brussels and was opened as a museum. It was inaugurated in 1928 and is a magnificent mansion featuring paintings, sculptures, glass and porcelain objects, china, silverware, tapestries and French Rococo antiques.

If you have enough time

The Charlier Museum isn’t an essential visit in Brussels but, if you have enough time, we highly recommend it. It is ideally located in front of the Parc de Bruxelles (Brussels Park) and very near the Royal Palace, so you can dedicate one hour of your visit to the museum before seeing other things.