With renovations of an old car show room taking longer than expected, the new modern and contemporary art museum of Brussels will not be able to open its doors in autumn 2025, as previously anticipated.
The major works needed on the former Citroën garage, a 42,000-square-metre modernist building, will not be finalised until the end of 2025, Belgian newspaper Le Soir has reported, meaning the museum will probably only sometime in 2026.
The development for the Kanal-Centre Pompidou Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art has been managed by the Kanal Foundation for 8 years, an association created by the City of Brussels specifically to oversee the project, which has, until now, required €172 million investment.
Linked to the Georges Pompidou National Centre for Art and Culture in Paris for the first five years after opening, the Kanal museum is expected to be one of the largest modern and contemporary art museums in the world.
The new museum will be located in the iconic Citroën building, on the edge of the canal, hence the name. The building fronts onto the Place Sainctelette, extending on its side along the canal itself on the Quai des Péniches, and can be reached by the Yser metro station. Originally containing the showrooms and workshops of the car manufacturer, the building was acquired by the Brussels region 10 years ago.
The project’s plans will see the building’s showrooms restored to their original condition, with the mezzanine floors installed in the 1950s removed and the 1970s aluminium and glass façade replaced with steel according to the original design. The entire surface will be divided in large areas for several different purposes, including:
- 12,000 square metres for modern and contemporary art
- 7,000 square metres for international architecture
- 13,000 square metres of public space for culture, relaxation, entertainment and education
- 9,000 square metres for offices, workshops, auditoriums, storage rooms, delivery rooms, technical spaces and a car park
The building has been repurposed for cultural events in the past and continues to be. Since May 2018, under the name Kanal Brut, it has housed several exhibitions in cooperation with the Centre Pompidou in Paris. These installations include visual arts, design and architecture by Brussels-based artists as well as performing arts and others, with the works intended to “echo the identity of the site, but also its human and social history, tangible across the different workshops and offices and in the different fittings of this vast complex”, according to the Kanal Foundation.
