Horta Museum visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

27 rue Américaine, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels

Open

Tue–Fri 14:00–17:30 · Sat–Sun 11:00–17:30

Closed

Mondays and eight public holidays

Last entry

45 minutes before closing

Entry

Every 15 minutes, 15 visitors per slot

Visit length

About 1 hour 15 minutes, self-guided

Photos

Not allowed inside

Where the museum is

The Horta Museum is in Saint-Gilles, the commune just south of central Brussels, on a residential street called rue Américaine. It occupies the house Victor Horta built for himself at No. 25 and the studio next door at No. 23, which he finished by 1901.

You do not go in through Horta's own front door. The entrance is at No. 27, a house of 1900 by the architect Jules Brunfaut that the museum converted in 2016. The reception desk, lockers, shop and temporary exhibition are there, and a link takes you into the historic rooms, which keeps the old house free of queues and shop counters. Give the façades a look from the pavement before you go in: the bay, the iron balcony and the carved front door are the one part of the visit you can photograph.

Opening hours and closed days

The museum opens in the afternoon on weekdays and from late morning at weekends: Tuesday to Friday 14:00 to 17:30, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 17:30. It is closed every Monday.

Last entry is 45 minutes before closing, so the latest quarter-hour you can book is 16:45. The rooms begin to empty 30 minutes before closing time, and the studio, where the teaching displays are, closes first. If you want time with the drawings and models there, avoid the very last slot.

The museum also closes on 1 January, 1 May, Ascension Day, 21 July, 15 August, 1 November, 11 November and 25 December. On the first Sunday of each month it runs a free-entry day with its own booking; we do not sell those Sundays, and our calendar greys them out together with every closed day.

How the timed entry works

Entry runs in quarter-hour slots, and each slot holds fifteen people. On a weekday that means slots from 14:00 to 16:45; at weekends they start at 11:00. When fifteen places are gone, that time is closed, which is why mid-afternoon slots can disappear several days ahead.

The museum says only an advance booking guarantees that you get in. A few places are sold at the desk, but the wait can be long and there is no certainty a slot will free up. It advises booking around a week ahead, and earlier during school holidays and at the end of the year, when visitor numbers climb.

Come at the time printed on your ticket. Arriving early does not help, because the rooms are narrow and the next group is already inside, and arriving late means your place is no longer held.

Fares and the proof you bring

We book three fares that match the museum's own ticket categories. The adult fare is for visitors aged 18 and over. The student fare is for students under 30 with a valid student card. The 6–17 fare is for young people, who should carry a passport or ID card that shows their age.

Children under 6 visit free. They still need a place in the slot, so tell us their ages when you book and we add a free ticket for each of them to the same booking at no charge.

The museum checks proof for every reduced ticket at the desk. If a student card has expired or is left at the hotel, the desk charges the adult rate instead, so check that everyone has the right card before you leave.

Arriving and the lockers

At No. 27 your ticket is scanned at the reception desk, on paper or on a phone. Show it first, because the phone is about to go away: phones and cameras are not allowed in the house or the studio.

Lockers in the reception hall are free and lock with a key. Everything goes in: phones, cameras, bags of every size, coats, umbrellas, walking sticks without a rubber tip, and any food or drink. Even a small handbag is not allowed in the historic rooms, so the lighter you travel the quicker this goes.

Pushchairs cannot go into the house. You may leave one in the reception hall if there is room, and a baby-changing table is in the accessible toilet off the hall. Collect your things as soon as you come out.

The route through the house

The house at No. 25 is visited on your own with a printed guide, in English, French or Dutch, that you pick up as you start. It takes you room by room, and short texts in the same three languages sit in each room.

From the entrance hall and the parlour you climb to the bel étage, where the reception rooms open round the stairwell. This is the heart of the house: iron banisters curl up through it to a glazed lantern skylight, and the light that falls through the glass reaches the walls, the mosaic and the woodwork below.

Higher up the house turns private: a boudoir, the family sitting room and bedrooms for Horta, his wife, his daughter and visiting friends, with the servants' rooms under the roof. Keep your hands off the walls and furniture; the stair handrail is the one thing you may hold.

The studio next door

The studio at No. 23 was built for the work of an architect's office. The ground floor held the administration. Above it is the smoking room, where Horta received clients, and beside it his own office, which looks onto the garden.

The second floor, full of daylight, was where his draughtsmen turned his ideas into drawings, and in the basement a sculpture workshop turned the drawings into plaster models. The studio's staircase is lit by daylight through a clever arrangement of its own, smaller than the house's but from the same mind.

Today these rooms hold the museum's teaching displays about Horta's life, his work and the restoration of the house. They close to visitors 30 minutes before the museum does, so leave enough time for them.

Why there are no photos inside

Photography and video are strictly forbidden in the house and the studio during opening hours. The museum's reasons are practical: the decoration is fragile, the passages are narrow, and people stopping to frame a picture crowd the stairs and brush the walls.

In practice the rule is easy to follow, because your phone is already in the locker. If you want pictures, take them outside: the façades of Nos. 23 and 25 on rue Américaine are in full view from the street, and the museum's garden in front of the reception hall is open when the weather allows.

Selfie sticks, music players and other sound devices are banned in the building too.

Read the full guide: Can you take photos inside the Horta Museum? →

Stairs and accessibility

The visit is more physical than people expect. The route through the house and studio covers three flights and 375 steps, along corridors that are often narrow, and there is no lift in the historic buildings.

The museum says the house and studio are not accessible to wheelchairs and advises against the visit for people with reduced mobility or breathing difficulties. Only the modern annex at No. 27 is step-free; it holds the reception, the shop and the temporary exhibition.

Assistance dogs are welcome in the house and studio when their owner shows a European Disability Card. Other animals cannot come in. If you are unsure whether the stairs will suit someone in your party, write to us before you book and we will describe the route in more detail.

Children and groups

Children are welcome. Under-6s visit free and travel on your booking at no charge; young people aged 6 to 17 have their own fare. Children under 12 must stay with a responsible adult the whole time, and there are no special children's activities during individual visits.

Groups are a different matter. The museum requires groups of seven or more people to book a guided visit, at least seven days ahead, and visitors on individual tickets may not guide or lecture the people with them. Guided groups are capped at fifteen including the guide.

For that reason our bookings stop at six people. Groups of seven or more book a guided visit directly with the museum.

Getting there

The simplest way is the tram. Lines 81, 92 and 97 stop at Janson, and from there it is about three minutes on foot to rue Américaine. Bus 54 stops at Trinité, also about three minutes away.

If you cycle, there is bike parking at 196 chaussée de Charleroi, two minutes from the door, and the nearest Villo! shared-bike station, number 78, is at 370–376 chaussée de Waterloo, about five minutes away. Bicycles, folding bikes and scooters cannot come into the museum.

Driving is the least convenient option. The museum has no car park, and parking in the surrounding streets is paid. Whichever way you come, aim to reach No. 27 a few minutes before your slot so the lockers do not eat into your quarter-hour.

Read the full guide: How to get to the Horta Museum →

Frequently asked questions