CINEMATEK

About the museum

CINEMATEK is the name of the Royal Belgian Film Archive, a film archive founded in 1938 that holds one of the richest film collections in Europe. Its film museum opened in 1962 in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and has been called CINEMATEK since 2009. The institution has three missions: to preserve films, to support research based on its collection and to show it to a wide public.

The visitor location is on rue Baron Horta, in the Palais des Beaux-Arts building designed by Victor Horta. The cinema rooms were entirely renovated in 2021. The programme draws mainly on the house's own collections: classics, Belgian and regional cinema, and retrospectives of filmmakers. Most films are projected on film stock, and silent films are accompanied live by a pianist who improvises.

The exhibition area is freely accessible, without a cinema ticket. Its permanent exhibition, the Wunderkammer, tells the history of cinema through interactive display cases: from Chinese shadow theatre to magic lanterns, phenakistiscopes, cameras and the Lumière brothers' Cinématographe. A working Edison kinetoscope and a large praxinoscope with a knife thrower are among the pieces on show. These objects come from CINEMATEK's object collection, which holds what is known as media archaeology. The institution's library, housed in the Hôtel de Clèves on rue Ravenstein, remains a separate site.

Highlights

• Wunderkammer: permanent exhibition on the precursors of cinema
• Working Edison kinetoscope
• Large praxinoscope with a knife thrower
• Silent films with live improvised piano accompaniment
• Cinema rooms renovated in 2021 in a building by Victor Horta

Permanent exhibition

• Wunderkammer – Permanent exhibition on the history of cinema, with interactive display cases from Chinese shadow theatre to the Lumière brothers' Cinématographe.

Founded

1962

Operated by

Cinémathèque royale de Belgique

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

The exhibition space, with the Wunderkammer, is freely accessible without a cinema ticket. Cinema screenings are paid (standard ticket €7; subscriptions available; Pass Cineville accepted). According to the website, prices were adjusted from 1 June 2026.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Wheelchair-accessible, with adapted toilets (according to Brussels Museums).

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations

Youth programme for ages 3 to 12 and for ages 13 to 18, with public screenings. Guided visits to the Wunderkammer are possible for families by reservation; the display cases show how the inventions work.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

Hot and cold drinks vending machines in the foyer; no drinks or food in the cinema rooms. Film magazines, historical press cuttings and a selection of DVDs can be consulted in the foyer.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Corporate events

Cinema rooms and foyer available for hire for screenings, lectures and receptions; the Ledoux room, with 117 seats, is available for private screenings.

Plan your visit