Brussels Art Nouveau & Art Deco Festival

The Brussels Art Nouveau & Art Deco (BANAD) Festival is a special event that promotes the Art Nouveau and Art Deco heritage of the Brussels-Capital Region. This year again, the Villa Empain is part of the programme and its guides will reveal its fascinating history.

The Villa Empain is a hallmark of Brussels’ art world, and also a remarkable testament to the Art Deco movement. It was built at the beginning of the 1930s by architect Michel Polak under Baron Louis Empain’s initiative. Throughout its past as a private house, a museum, the USSR Embassy, and the eadquarters of Luxembourgish television channel RTL, the Villa has reflected the rhythm of Brussels’ history. Partially destroyed and vandalized, it was abandoned at the beginning of the 1980s. The Boghossian Foundation acquired the Villa Empain in 2006 and began working on its restoration, a process which would take four years. A project simultaneously complex and delicate, the meticulous restoration was carried out with respect to the history of the building and was awarded the Europa Nostra prize by the European Union.

For this edition, the Villa Empain opens its doors with guided tours in sign language (LSFB) audio description.