In just over 500 days, the new look Kanal, a famous landmark in the city, will open its doors in Brussels.
Together, Kanal-Centre Pompidou and CIVA have turned the former Citroën garage into a “living museum.”
From 28 November 2026 onwards, people will be able to discover the new museum’s 40,000 m2 in all its glory.
It comprises new spaces for exhibitions, performance, dance, music and film. There are also impressive archives, collections and a library, a café, restaurant, bakery and rooftop bar.
The artistic programme of the opening will be announced in January 2026.
Those involved say the conversion of the garage into a museum “was done with much love and respect for what the building had been for a century.”
The architectural team built on the existing style, structure and atmosphere but added three new volumes, not least to meet the strict climatic conditions typical of a museum.
The design emphasises the horizontality of the former workshops, integrates the existing internal streets and levels, and encourages the visitor to appropriate the spaces.
The 21-metre-high showroom remains the absolute eye-catcher of the building.
At the same time,people can just walk into it “without even noticing.”
The enormous glass open space has been restored to its original state and is becoming a freely accessible place where visitors unsuspectingly bump into monumental works of art, installations or DJ sets.
The large guillotine windows are opened completely in good weather so that the museum and the renovated Saincteletteplein become one. Higher up on the fifth floor people will find a gastronomic restaurant where they can enjoy lunch or dinner with a view of the showroom, on the roof a rooftop bar with a panoramic view of Brussels.
A new five-storey “volume”, with adapted air conditioning and acoustics, will become the beating heart of the Kanal museum, say the organisers.
A spokesman for the project said, “Here you will discover large and small exhibitions in the best possible conditions, with works of art from Kanal’s own collection and from other collections, including that of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
“Underground, the concrete vaults immerse you in an underground atmosphere, while the fifth floor not only treats you to exhibitions but also to a unique view of the canal,” added the spokesman.
