Top Things to do in The Ardennes
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Top 10 Specialty Museums in The Ardennes, Wallonia
A smorgasbord of flavors come from this lofty land in the hilly southeast of Belgium: game, wild boar, venison, smoked ham, the region's famous paté and world-renowned Trappist beers. Primarily located in Belgium, the Ardennes mountains also nudge into France and Luxembourg. Dense forests flank the steep hillsides, and market towns and villages perch on river banks. Spring and summer show this lush area at its best, but cross country skiing opportunities make a good case for winter visits.
Restaurants in The Ardennes
1. Musee Curtius (Curtius Museum)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 258 reviews
Reviewed By edb404 - Ostend, Belgium
Nice exhibition, beautiful building with modern extensions. Management does a lot of efforts to explain and show past and present history.
2. Felicien Rops Museum (Musee Felicien Rops)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 251 reviews
Reviewed By periandro - Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
The building inside which there is the Museum is a nice house dating back to the seventeenth century situated in 12, rue Fumal to where it moved in the eighties of the twentieth century from the Hôtel de Gaiffer d’Hestroy. The Museum is located in the hub of Namur at a walking distance from the Cathedral. That can be clearly realized by casting a glance through the two looking boxes directed to Saint - Aubain Cathedral and St. Jean church, very interesting views by the way. The works by Rops displayed in that Museum represent a unique art conception encompassing divers types of slide arts. So, one can see there some lithographs which were published in the Uylenspiegel journal, such as the caricature of the French photographer Nadar and “La politique pour rire”. It’s amazing to realise how in the satirical drawings concerning the series to which the last mentioned lithographs belong Rops referred to the Belgian constitution and blended humour with parliamentary decisions. The “Uylenspiegel , journal des débats, artistiques et literaires” was a magazine founded by Rops himself and therefore the real starting point of his artistic career. His art production at that time wasn’t constricted to lithographs and the proof thereof is the oil painting “L’Entrée au bal”. It’s a striking picture in that Museum at the sight of which it’s easy to gather that Rops’s concerns didn’t fall within the academic teaching which enjoined geometric rigour and perfect identification of forms. Likewise the lithograph “La Médaille de Waterloo” is a striking work particularly as it depicts the army as a mass of absurd skeletons. This work is an example of Rops’s political commitments as it shows a dwarf senile Emperor supporting himself with a cane in the middle of a radiant Waterloo medal . “La Peine de Mort” is also a witness of the author’s political commitment as a contribution against death penalty. In his works within the scope of realism style the denouncement of the hypocrisy of certain people is outstanding. In them Rops painted what he saw. That’s why he was accused sometimes of making anticlerical works, as it was the case in connection with “Chez les Trappistes” and in “Un Enterrement en Pays Wallon”. Both litographs are eye catching as they denounce the perversity and the stupidity of the clergy respectively. The latter should be observed attentively in order to realise the solitude in which the little orphan in front of the grave finds himself as he doesn’t get a single gesture of consolation or tenderness from the other people attending the burial. The painting “Tête de Vieille Anversoise” is in realism style. In it the piercing and scrutinizing gaze of the elderly lady depicted in it is somewhat terrifying. Among Rops’s works somehow related to the French poet Charles Baudelaire exhibited in the Museum one could point out “La Mort qui danse”, “Les Épaves”, consisting in etching and dry-point, destined to be the frontispiece for Charles Baudelaire’s work “Les Épaves”, and “Satan semant l’ivraie”. The last one depicts a frightening scene in which the devil tramples on a freshly ploughed soil spreading away the rye grass that will destroy the farmers’ harvest. Rops was also very skilled in the technique of engraving what can be observed in two sketches exhibited in the Museum which he made to be used as a frontispiece for “Les Oeuvres Inutiles et Nuisibles” 1879 - 1880 consisting of two albums, the first one opening with a naked woman and the second album with the same drawing on the same woman dressed in her city dress. It’s amazing to watch these two drawings which somehow remind of the paintings of the Majas by Goya. Perhaps the most interesting sections of the Museum are the works having women as the main character. In the works included in one of those sections some prostitutes are portrayed as well as scenes in women’s bars, cabarets and brothels. The world of prostitution really fascinated the artist. That section consists of drawings, heliogravures prints, pastels and colour etchings. All the women represented in those works are beautiful as one can see in the following ones: “La Buveuse d’Absinthe”, “La Dèche”, “Le Gandin Ivre” and “Le Bouge à Matelots”. In another section Rops tried to reflect the fact that at the end of the nineteenth century women were often considered as manipulating. The charming character of all women depicted in those works is outstanding. Watching them one can be astounded at realising that women possess whatever is needed to procure for themselves all that they want from men. This can be clearly observed in Rops’s versions of “Dame au Pantin et à l’Éventail”, made each one of them using different techniques though the watercolour is present in all of them. In the fourth version, for instance, the lady carries a knife on her belt and, with a satisfied expression, holds up a puppet whose position calls up its submissive role. The picture “Pornocratés” ou “La Dame au cochon” is perhaps Rops’s most widely known work. It’s a stunning work depicting a lady dressed only in gloves, black stockings and a Gainsborough hat who walks proudly over the ancient arts that are sculpted and set into the marble. Three little cherubs try to seduce the woman, who continues its way guided by a pig. It’s a marvelous painting. Upon suggestion of Jules Noilly, Rops created more than a hundred sketches of lifestyles outlining the bourgeois hypocrisies of the time. In the Museum there are about twenty of them which are splendid artworks that can no doubt be admired by anyone having a bit of sensitiveness. One among the most interesting of them is perhaps “La Chanson de Chérubin” representing a scene in a boudoir saturated with red. That scene is about a vulgar bourgeois singing a serenade to a prostitute who has a vague look and is undressed. Another precious picture of that series is that called “La Toilette” showing a woman of doubtful reputation and morals dressing herself under the interested gaze of a dandy, lacing her corset, her eyes riveted on those of her lover. She reveals herself to be manipulating and dangerous. In the journeys that Rops made to evade himself from Paris and so discover other realities, he also continued carrying out his artistic activity. The most outstanding artworks displayed in the Museum in relation to those intervals are the oil on canvass paintings “La Plage de Heyst”, which is the impression of the atmosphere of a visit to the North Sea, and “Le Paysage Scandinave” in which he used a post-impressionist technique, as well as that called “Vue de Séville”. As far as the rest of the works to be admired in the Museum is concerned, that painting called “Avendre (Les Deux Amies)” is the most outstanding. It depicts two ladies, one of them consisting of a stunning nude comparable to those of Toulouse-Lautrec. Besides, on the day I visited the Museum, 14.01.2020, the temporary exhibition was also very interesting. It consisted of paintings borrowed from other Belgian museums and included even one by Ensor. As one can gather from the foregoing the Rops Museum is a unique art museum housing highly valuable works different from those which can be seen in most museums. Such works are both very peculiar and beautiful. In order to realize such qualities it’s therefore utterly recommendable to visit the Museum and watch attentively all the works there exhibited.
3. Tresor d'Hugo d'Oignies
4. Malmundarium
5. Musee des Celtes
6. Gaspar Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 25 reviews
Museum Gaspar is housed in the residence of the middle-class family Gaspar from Arlon who had set up in this house (1893) that was built in 1842. It was renovated in 2004. The two most famous members of this family are animal sculptor Jean-Marie Gaspar (1861-1931) and Charles Gaspar (1971-1950) who was a photographer and a sponsor. He gave his house to the town of Arlon on the condition they make a museum of it, dedicated to his brother's work and that put into honour the history and the heritage of Arlon. At the first floor, theree are two restored salons identical to a middle-class salon from the early 20th century that show Jean-Marie Gaspar's sculptures. and the art and picture collection of Charles Gaspar. The rest of the first floor is dedicated to temporary exhibitions of the museum that alternates artv and history. A religion room shows collections about the abbey of Orval and to the people's devotion at the 18th century, and also relics from the ancient Saint-Martin church. But the Masterpiece is the famous altarpiece Retable de Fisenne - a 16th century masterpiece from the Antwerp school. This beautiful house was a bank at the origin. It was bought in 1893 by a middle-class family from Arlon, the family Gaspar. Jean Gaspar (1861-1931) was a sculptor. He was trained by the Antwerp sculptor Jef Lambeaux. His works are in bronze and in plaster and they are exhibited in the salons that have been restorated as they were in his house. His brother Charles (1871-1950) was a photographer, a collector and a sponsor. He gave this house to the town of Arlon. It hosts the library of the Archaeological Institute of the Belgian Province of Luxembourg and its secretary office since 1954. A wide part of the museum is also dedicated to temporary exhibitions about art and history of Arlon.
7. Source O Rama
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 34 reviews
More than 100,000 people have visited the "Source O Rama" water discovery center since 2005. Renovated in 2018, Source O rama is even more dynamic, fun and cultural with 2 new different spaces : WaterHouse & ArtHouse. WaterHouse answers all your questions through spaces where we discuss the water cycle, clouds, thunderstorms, formation of underground water, groundwater, know the amount of water on the earth, in our body. Are water resources inexhaustible? How much and how do we consume it? We also learn about the origin and benefits of Chaudfontaine water ! Finally, a spectacular trip makes us live the 60 years expedition of a drop of water, from the clouds to the bottle. Art House assembles in one place and in one visit the major stages of 20th century modern art, from impressionists to Pop Art, surrealism and abstract art. A permanent exhibition of major creations by the greatest artists. Art House wishes to share its love of modern art with families and more specifically children.
8. Bastogne War Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,851 reviews
Located close to the famous Mardasson Memorial, the Bastogne War Museum is the principal memorial dedicated to the Second World War in the Ardennes and Belgium with more than 150 000 visitors per year. Through the use of scenography, witness testimonial, multi-media installation the route through the exhibition appeals not only to the intellect but to the emotions, giving visitors the feeling that this story belongs to each and every one of us.
Reviewed By erictX7670ZS - Norway, null
Visited with our two kids (7 and 9), and we all thought the museum was fantastic. For my generation and that of our kids, the events of WW2 are very removed. But when you learn about what happened, and that it wasn't all that long ago, it's a very humbling educational experience. The museum is really well curated, and the exhibition leads you through the lead up and events of this part of WW2 in a logical and very engaging manner. My kids liked their individual audio guides and especially the way the story is narrated by the 4 perspectives of the local boy, his teacher, the American soldier and the German soldier. The theatrical displays are really good (to give your mind a break) because there is just so much info to absorb and it is tiring. We spent 3hrs in the museum. It is scary that the events of today seem so similar to those in the lead up to WW2... We also visited the Verdun WW1 museum the next day, and it is incredulous that the world didn't learn it's lesson the first time round.
9. Bister
10. Musee de la Lessive
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 31 reviews
