Brussels Urban Transport Museum, Transport museum in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Belgium
The Brussels Urban Transport Museum occupies part of a tram depot on Avenue de Tervueren in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. Its wide single-storey front has two peaked gables clad in green metal above a cream, vertically ribbed facade, with a glazed wall of large window bays and a projecting glass entrance. Silver letters read "MUSEE" and "MUSEUM", and a dark emblem shows a stylised tram front. Inside are about 130 vehicles, from horse-drawn trams of 1868 to buses of 1978.
The first depot on this site was built for the 1897 International Exposition, serving a narrow-gauge line along Avenue de Tervueren opened in May 1897. After Les Tramways Bruxellois took over the operator in 1899, the line was converted to standard gauge. The depot was expanded in 1907–08, tripling storage capacity, and by 1952 covered 12,000 m² with 3,930 m of indoor tracks. The first two halls became exhibition space in 1976–77, and the building was listed as a historic monument on 29 November 2001.
The museum's nickname, Musée du Tram, comes from the Brussels tram itself, which the city pioneered: the first horse-drawn rail line opened in 1866, and about twenty lines existed ten years later while Paris had one. Volunteers, many former STIB staff, run the museum and narrate the Sunday Brussels Tourist Tramway circuit in French, Dutch or English.
The museum occupies the first two halls of the depot at 364b avenue de Tervueren, opposite Woluwe Park; the third hall is still an active STIB/MIVB depot. In high season (April to end of September) it opens Wednesday 14:00–18:00 and Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 13:00–19:00; in low season, the second weekend of each month, 13:00–17:00. On open days historic trams run to Tervuren station, the Cinquantenaire and Stockel, and vintage buses to Place Royale.
Former employees of transport companies volunteer their time to maintain the vehicles and keep the collection's history alive. Since 1982, these experienced helpers have worked to make the collection accessible to visitors.
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