Villa Empain Brussels

East meets West in Art Deco mansion

Nettah from Brussels

""Villa Empain" Brussels: a unique experience of a gallery. I always get blown away by the sheer opulence of the whole thing, straight out of Great Gatsby."

Located on an avenue of embassies near the forest that surrounds Brussels, the Villa Empain offers a unique experience. When you first walk in, you are blown away by the sheer opulence of the whole thing, standing in a house straight out of the Great Gatsby and the gilded jazz age. The architectural details hit you next and you ask yourself if you have somehow stumbled into an interbellum murder mystery à la Hercule Poirot.

In 1930, Baron Empain, industrialist and financier, developer of the Paris metro, commissioned the villa to be built in the most fashionable style of the day: Art Deco. 80-odd years later and the villa has been a museum, home of the Russian embassy and headquarters of broadcaster RTL.

It is now the property of the Boghossian Foundation, which has beautifully restored the villa and dedicated it as a venue for artistic dialogue between East and West. It is worth visiting for the building itself, but the rotating exhibitions are also very interesting.

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Brussels Spotter Nettah

About me I am passionate about cities. From the chaotic creativity of Asian metropolises to the elegant sophistication of ancient European capitals, I love the energy and dynamism of urban life. I travel as often as humanly possible to discover new places and return to old favourites, seeking out the unusual, the contradictory that lurks beneath the everyday. I grew up on the rainy northeast coast of England before moving to London to study languages at UCL. I then lived in Japan for a year, studied an MA in European Cultures at Cambridge and am currently pursui...

About this spot

Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 67

Entrance adults:

€

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26275230

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Dec 2, 2025

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