Kanal Opens 28 November: Your First-Visit Guide to Brussels' New Art Museum

On Saturday 28 November, the Citroën garage at the edge of the canal opens to the public as Kanal, Brussels' new museum of modern and contemporary art. Many people still know it by its longer name, Kanal–Centre Pompidou. The building covers 40,000 m². Part of the building is free to walk into, and that alone makes it worth a trip.

Getting there

Kanal is at Square Sainctelette, 1000 Brussels, beside the canal.

• Metro: Yser/IJzer is the nearest stop.
• From Brussels-North: about a 10-minute walk.

Check the Kanal visit page for other transport options and accessibility information.

Opening hours and tickets

After the opening weekend, tickets are valid from 11:00 to 19:00, with a later opening night until 22:00. Check the Kanal visit page for the regular opening days and the late-opening day.

You can book online through each exhibition or event page on the official ticket page.

Adult tickets are €18 for the Art ticket, €14 for the NO SHOW ticket and €24 for the Combo ticket (art). Reduced rates exist: for the Art ticket, under-12s are free, ages 13–18 pay €2.50 and ages 19–26 pay €9; for the Combo ticket, under-12s are free, ages 13–18 pay €5 and ages 19–26 pay €12. More categories are listed on the ticket page. The museumPASSmusées gives free entry.

The opening weekend: 28–29 November

Doors open at 10:00 on Saturday 28 November and stay open without a break until 22:00 on Sunday 29 November. Entry is free for everyone, funded by the National Lottery.

The ten opening exhibitions need a pre-booked time slot, and those slots are fully booked. All 30,000 free tickets were claimed in a single day in September. If you didn't get one, you can still come.

• The rest of the building needs no ticket or booking. Just walk in. There are performances, concerts, DJ sets, films, and workshops for children and families. The full free programme is on the opening weekend page.
• Expect crowds through Saturday afternoon and Sunday. The overnight hours and early Saturday are your best chance of a calmer look at the showroom.
• Save the galleries for later. Come back after the opening weekend for the exhibitions, ideally on a weekday morning.

The main exhibition: A truly immense journey

The opening exhibition, A truly immense journey, runs from 28 November 2026 to 10 January 2028, so you have more than a year to see it. It brings together more than 350 works from the early 1900s to today. Most come from the Centre Pompidou and Kanal collections, with loans from Belgian public and private collections.

The exhibition looks at the forces that set people, ideas and artistic forms in motion. Names to look out for include Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Sonia Delaunay, Lygia Clark and Wifredo Lam.

The other opening shows

Nine more exhibitions open at the same time. Some are short, so check the end dates.

• Right to the City – Right to the Future, by Kanal Architecture (formerly CIVA), about the neighbouring Quartier Nord, until 30 May 2027.

Later in Kanal's first five years, shows built from the Paris collection will include Brassaï, and Robert and Sonia Delaunay.

What you can see for free

Part of the building is open without a ticket. This includes:

• the soaring showroom and main ground-floor walkways
• a playground
• the library, archives and research centre
• the salon, shop and bookshop

It's a good rainy-afternoon option even if you don't plan to visit the galleries.

Eating and drinking

All the food outlets open on 28 November and share one central kitchen that cooks with local, seasonal ingredients.

• Restaurant Jeanne: fine dining inside the building, with a vegetarian menu and large tables facing the open kitchen. It looks out over the showroom.
• The rooftop: a bar with cocktails, mocktails and small dishes, plus views across Brussels.
• The bakery: opens early in the morning, with handmade croissants, pastries, cakes and baguettes.
• Brasserie Carrosserie: a more casual option, with a waterfront terrace.

Planning your first visit

• Give it half a day. The main exhibition is large, and the free areas deserve time too.
• Bring the kids. The playground and the family workshops make Kanal one of the more child-friendly museums in the city.
• Combine it with the canal. Brussels-North and the Quartier Nord are a short walk away, which links neatly with the Kanal Architecture exhibition.

Prices, booking rules and food-outlet hours may change, so check before you go on the official Kanal visit page.