The Porcelain House — Musée royal de Mariemont, Belgium

When a factory closes after a hundred and ninety years, what survives is rarely the building. In the case of Brussels’ last porcelain works, which ran from 1830 to 2020, what survives is its contents — and from 26 September 2026 to 9 May 2027 the Domaine & Musée royal de Mariemont puts them on show as The Porcelain House, with more than 1,700 pieces that have never been seen by the public.

The exhibition is laid out as the works themselves were laid out: the shop window first, then the rooms where things were decided, then the workshops where they were made. Alongside the porcelain it follows the people — artisans, workers, sales staff, directors, customers — so that two centuries of industrial history are told through the lives inside it rather than through the objects alone. Contemporary craft artists close the sequence with work of their own.

The Brussels Times identifies the manufactory as Demeuldre-Coché, whose former premises are listed in the architectural inventory of the Brussels-Capital Region. The house exhibited at the great international fairs and worked with sculptors of the calibre of Isidore De Rudder, Alfred Crick and Julien Dillens; its ceramic tiles still face buildings in the city, among them the former Old England store on the Montagne de la Cour, now the Musical Instruments Museum.

Mariemont is an hour south of Brussels, in Morlanwelz, and the exhibition is a co-production: the museum with the Museum of the City of Brussels, the Royal Museums of Art and History and the Office des Métiers d’Art of Hainaut Province.

Practical details

• When: 26 September 2026 to 9 May 2027
• Where: Domaine & Musée royal de Mariemont, Chaussée de Mariemont 100, 7140 Morlanwelz, Belgium
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–18:00 (April–October), 10:00–17:00 (November–March)
• Admission: €9 adults (27–64); €6 over-65s; €4 students (19–26); free for children and Friends of the museum
• Organised by: Domaine & Musée royal de Mariemont, co-produced with the Museum of the City of Brussels, the Royal Museums of Art and History and the Office des Métiers d’Art of Hainaut Province
• Curators: Elise Urbain Ruano, with Marieke De Baerdemaeker and Valérie Montens

Cultural Heritage Online lists this exhibition for readers following Belgian decorative arts and the industrial history behind them.