Royal Military Museum
The Royal Military Museum presents 12 centuries of military history - from medieval armour to the F-16 fighter plane - through a multitude of uniforms, weapons and heavy machinery, not to mention the 130 flying machines in the Aviation Hall.
Visit also the largest permanent exhibition in Belgium on the Second World War and the temporary exhibitions on specific themes!
The terraces at the top of the Cinquantenaire arcades also offer a splendid panoramic view of Brussels...
Bastogne Barracks
An incredible exhibition hall of Second World War vehicles and equipment!
Located to the north-east of the town in the direction of La Roche-en-Ardenne, Bastogne Barracks offers a wide range of tracked and wheeled vehicles, artillery and other equipment relating to the Second World War, both Allied and Axis, in its vast 2350m² exhibition hall and outside.
Command Bunker Kemmel
In the early 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Luxemburg and the Netherlands built a coordination bunker for the air defence of Western Europe, as part of the Brussels Pact. When the bunker was finally ready, the newly created NATO set up its own air defence and the Kemmel bunker was became redundant. It was not until 1963 that the Supreme Command of the Belgian Armed Forces decided to use the bunker as a headquarters in case of war, conflict or exercise.
A visit to the bunker is a fascinating experience. For more than 90 minutes, you will explore the entrails of the Kemmelberg: a site full of secret missions, invisible enemies and an omnipresent tension that leaves no one indifferent. Just walking through the "Operations Room" - the bunker’s beating heart- is an impressive experience.
Fort Breendonk
The Nazi horror and its concentration camps did not spare Belgium. As one of the best preserved camps in Europe, Fort Breendonk exemplifies this in a most moving and telling way.
During the poignant visit, you will discover the construction site where the prisoners were put to forced labour, the torture room, the showers, the execution ground, the prisoners' cells,...
Throughout the audio-guided tour, unedited audio-visual testimonies by former prisoners, films and giant photos take the visitor on a journey exploring the living conditions imposed on prisoners by the SS guards.
The Trench of Death
The Dixmude Trench of Death is the only preserved First World War trench complex in Belgium.
Trench of Death. Life and death rubbed shoulders in the trenches and the personal stories of those who fought and fell in them send shivers down your spine. On the building’s upper level, you walk over a huge aerial photograph taken in 1916: it allows you to compare the then devastated landscape with the situation today. In the extension of the trench complex, less than 100 meters from the Belgian positions, a German bunker has been integrated into the site, which allows for the story to be told from both sides. During the war, the site was the soldiers' hell. Since 1919 and up to the present day, the Trench has attracted many visitors. The site still impresses and leaves no one indifferent.
Gunfire
Three hangars on this site illustrate Brasschaat's rich military past and its connection with the Belgian Armed Forces. They mainly display post Second World War Army weapons (Land Component), especially those dating from the period known as the 'Cold War'.
In this cradle of Belgian artillery, visitors can discover field and anti-aircraft artillery. Guns, howitzers and mortars tell the story from its beginnings to the present day.
The third hangar houses a large collection of armoured vehicles used by cavalry, infantry and engineering units. The Leopard tank takes centre stage. In addition to the Belgian vehicles, Gunfire displays the armoured vehicles deployed by both our allies and our former enemy, the Warsaw Pact, during the Cold War.