Museum of Natural Sciences

The Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels, also known as the 'Dinosaur Museum', has 16,000m² of permanent galleries, temporary exhibition rooms and educational workshops, welcoming roughly 300,000 visitors each year. The Museum is famous for it exceptional collection of Iguanodon fossils, found between 1878-1881 in a coal mine in Bernissart (Belgium).

For the general public, the Museum of Natural Sciences is the visible part of the RBINS. It has 16,000m² of permanent galleries, temporary exhibition rooms and educational workshops, enabling us to welcome roughly 300,000 visitors each year.

The Dinosaur Gallery is world famous and the largest in Europe. The museum plays a leading role in the promotion and dissemination of scientific culture, both within and beyond its walls, notably through travelling exhibitions and events. We are pursuing our ambitious efforts to gradually renovate the premises, making the museum more welcoming and meeting and exceeding our visitors expectations. We also seek to promote a more respectful approach to nature.

ACCESSIBILITY

The Museum is accessible to disabled visitors and the purchase of a concession ticket for a disabled visitor includes free admission for one accompanying adult.

Access and Parking:

There are two spaces in the main Museum car park reserved for those with disabled parking badges. For those arriving by public transport, there is a colour-coded street map that shows the accessibility of footpaths in the “Bruxelles en fauteuil” guide. You can download this guide at .

The Entrance:

The impressive external walkway located between the car park railings and the Museum entrance allows visitors with reduced mobility, families with pushchairs, and groups to directly access the cloakroom floor. It does not replace the main entrance, where the entrance desks are located, but it does optimise entrance into the Museum.

The floor of the walkway is fitted with orange LEDs, and there are direction signs on the road side, for blind or partially sighted visitors. The incline of the wooden floor is designed to limit momentum for wheelchairs. The lobby that connects the walkway to the Museum is fitted with sliding doors (the external doors are automatic in both directions, while the internal doors are automatic when exiting, but have a large push button to enter).

There is also a ramp that connects the car park with the entrance to the Museum. The doors to this ramp are not automatic, so please do not hesitate to ask for help from the car park attendant. There is a lift in the entrance hall that is specially designed for wheelchairs to allow you to descend to the cloakroom floor. A note to groups: taking the lift from the entrance hall to the cloakrooms takes a certain amount of time, so we recommend that you use the external walkway.

Wheelchairs for visitor use:

Two wheelchairs for visitor use are kept in the entrance hall. These can be reserved at Reception:

• by email: accueil@sciencesnaturelles.be
• by phone: +32 (0)2 627 41 98

Lifts:

There are two main lifts (A and B) that are accessible to everyone, as well as several lifts for wheelchair users. In the event that one of the lifts is unavailable, please ask one of the museum attendants to show you which way to go.

Toilets:

You will find disabled toilets in the toilets by the Mineral Hall (Floor -1), in the excavation section of the Dinosaur Gallery(Floor -2), below the main staircase that connects the Dinosaur Gallery and the 250 Years of Natural Sciences Hall (Floor -1), at the Insect Hall and at the Shell Hall (Floor 3).

Activities for blind and partially sighted visitors:

For children over the age of 5, we recommend a visit to the paleoLAB, which offers a wide variety of fun activities, as well as lots of objects, particularly fossils and minerals, that can be handled (in fact, this is what this discovery zone was designed for!). The instructions for suitable activities are also given in Braille.

HOW TO REACH

Public transport:

Our car park is small, so using public transport is advisable.

Find your way to the Museum by public transport (Belgian Rail, STIB/MIVB, TEC and De Lijn) with the journey planner of the Belgian Rail.

Train
Brussels-Luxembourg station is a five-minute walk from the museum (see the “Admissions” section above for details on B-Excursions)

Bus
Bus 38 or 95 to “Idalie” or “Luxembourg” bus stops which are a five-minute walk from the museum
Bus 34 or 80 to “Museum” bus stop, opposite the museum

Metro
Line 1 or 5 to “Maelbeek/Maalbeek” station, a ten-minute walk from the museum
Line 2 or 6 to “Trône/Troon” station, a ten-minute walk from the museum

Villo!
There are several Villo! bike rental stations near the museum. The nearest, station no. 102, is located just outside the Museum, at the base of the outside staircase, facing 229-233 Chaussée de Wavre.

More information
For more information, please see the following websites:

Belgian rail (trains)
Europe by train (Thalys, Eurostar etc.)
STIB/MIVB (metros, trams, and buses in Brussels)
TEC (metros, trams, and buses in Wallonia)
De Lijn (metros, trams, and buses in Flanders)
Villo! (self-service bicycles for rent in Brussels)

ADMISSION

Individual visitors:

Adults: € 7 Permanent exhibition halls € 9.50 Permanent halls + temporary exhibitions

Students with European Youth Card (EYCA), Seniors (65+), Friends of the Institute, Disabled visitors, FED+ :
€ 6 Permanent exhibition halls € 8.50 Permanent halls + temporary exhibitions

Children aged 6-17 (accompanied by a paying adult)
€ 4.50 Permanent exhibition halls € 7 Permanent halls + temporary exhibitions

Free admission:

Admission to the permanent exhibition halls and the temporary exhibitions is free:

for everybody on the first Wednesday of every month, after 13:00
for children under the age of six, accompanied by at least one paying adult
for Museum members
for one accompanying person per disabled visitor
for ICOM members
for teachers with professional ID

Annual pass:

Fan of the Museum and its halls and exhibitions? Purchase a annual pass and visit the Museum as often as you like, throughout the year!

€ 30: adults
€ 20: students, carte J, seniors (65+), Friends of the Institute, disabled visitors, children aged 6-17 (accompanied by a paying adult)