#modernity2025 #artdeco2025
Drawing over 760,000 participants and visitors in all, the Art Deco Year 2025 concluded with great success!
After the Art Nouveau Year 2023, this event once again confirms the enthusiasm of both local and international audiences for the iconic movements of Brussels heritage.
These exceptional visitor numbers reveal the scale and diversity of the programme, but also the quality of the cooperation between the various partners. In 2025, Brussels literally lived to the rhythm of Art Deco!
To end our series of themed articles on Brussels' interwar treasures, this eighth and final FOCUS invites you to reflect on the highlights of a year abound with discoveries.
Additional proof of this wonderful success: the project has been selected as a finalist in the visit.brussels Awards.
When Art Deco makes Brussels shine
The Art Deco Year saw hundreds of guided tours, dozens of exhibitions, conferences and festivals. A myriad of events took place in the capital's iconic Art Deco buildings, museums and private venues rarely open to the public.
50,000 visitors for the Heritage Days
A key cultural and heritage experience in Brussels, the Heritage Days were among the major events of the Art Deco Year 2025. Over the weekend, they brought together a broad and diverse audience.
The 37th Heritage Days, entitled "ART DECO, Roaring Twenties, Crash Years", attracted over 50,000 visitors to Brussels to (re)discover its interwar heritage. The multi-faceted, inclusive and immersive programme featured 193 venues and activities across the 19 Brussels municipalities.
Over 1,000 guided tours
Guided tours were one of the key elements of the Art Deco Year 2025, offering the public privileged access to the richness of Brussels Art Deco heritage. Sometimes discreet, sometimes monumental, this heritage was revealed not only through guided tours of neighbourhoods and key sites accessible all year round, but also privately owned spaces normally closed to the public.
In total, due to the extensive involvement of Brussels associations, institutions and municipalities, over 37,000 participants took part in more than 1,050 guided tours of exhibitions or buildings, city walks and bike rides.
In March 2025, organised by Explore.Brussels, the 9th Brussels Art Nouveau Art Deco Festival (BANAD Festival) alone drew almost 23,000 visitors.
26 exhibitions across the Region
Throughout the year, 26 exhibitions were held in 17 of the Region's museums and institutions, attracting an impressive total of more than 660,000 visitors. These exhibitions explored the diversity of Art Deco through a wide range of themes: architecture, furniture, sculpture, glass art, design, fashion, textiles, gastronomy and even bookbinding. Moving beyond a strictly aesthetic interpretation, they also highlighted the key social and cultural dimensions of the interwar period.
50 festive events
In addition to tours and exhibitions, the 2025 programme was also enriched with some 50 complementary activities that brought together some 11,500 participants. These events included conferences, special screenings, 1930s jazz evenings, charleston lessons, educational activities, a post-congress event and a fashion show.
Several major festivals and events punctuated the year, including the BANAD Festival, the Art Deco at Home Festival, the Art Nouveau and Art Deco Objects Fair and Artonov. These fun, festive and immersive events made Art Deco accessible to as many people as possible, combining heritage and unique experiences.
Publications to perpetuate the year
To provide communication on the theme and perpetuate the Art Deco Year, a number of publications were produced in 2025. In addition to the seven first FOCUS articles in this series, that highlighted specific aspects of Art Deco, there were dedicated publications such as the book "Demeures intemporelles" (Timeless residences) published by Racine and special issues in the magazines Natrimoine and Demeures Historiques et Jardins de Belgique.
In spring 2026, as a retrospective of this prolific Art Deco Year, Urban will devote the 40th issue of its magazine Bruxelles Patrimoines (Brussels Heritage) entirely to this style. The topics covered include the major challenges posed by the restoration of two protected giants: the Palais de la Folle Chanson in Ixelles and the Pavillons Français in Schaerbeek.
Dynamics and perspectives
The wonderful success of the Art Deco Year 2025 is largely based on the commitment of the various partners and their productive collaborations. Many saw record visitor numbers for their activities, results that illustrate the ripple effect of this themed year.
This momentum is set to continue in 2026, with a programme featuring extended exhibitions and new conferences and guided tours!
Cultivating synergies
More broadly, the Art Deco Year has encouraged the creation and strengthening of lasting synergies between cultural players, associations, publishers, museums, institutions, municipalities and tourism operators, therefore laying the foundations for ongoing partnerships well beyond 2025.
This collective momentum confirms the cultural influence of our capital, both in Belgium and abroad, and Brussels' unique position as a must-visit destination for everyone who's fond of architecture and heritage
The pass, ticket to the treasures
In 2025, the Art Nouveau Pass became the Art Nouveau Art Deco Pass, incorporating iconic sites such as the Van Buuren Museum and Gardens and Villa Empain, while retaining unmissable Art Nouveau sites such as the Solvay House or the Horta Museum. This was a resounding success, with 6,949 passes sold, scanned no fewer than 12,840 times!
Want to continue discovering Art Deco beyond 2025?
This genuine architectural passport is still available this year, providing access to three Art Nouveau or Art Deco gems of your choice, at a reduced cost.
