Museum of Natural Sciences Museum of Natural Sciences, Rue Vautier 29, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

In this section you can learn about the four essential components of our mission, the institute’s new organisational structure that was introduced in 2013, its Belgian and international partners, its annual reports sinds 2009, and its Strategic Plan 2016-2020.

In 2014 our scientific departments (report summary) underwent a peer review. Subsequently, in 2016, our services to the public and the daily management of the Museum (report summary) were assessed as well. Both evaluations were commissioned by BELSPO (Federal Science Policy).

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 www.bruxellesenfauteuil.be.

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!).