Museum of Belgian Pianos

Chris Maene, head of Piano's Maene, Belgium's largest piano firm, is also a world-renowned expert, collector and restorer of historical keyboard instruments. At the Piano's Maene showroom in Brussels, you'll find a very unique collection of pianos made in Belgium. The Flemish tradition of building keyboard instruments goes back a long way, most famously represented by the Ruckers dynasty of harpsichord building in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The numerous Belgian piano makers being represented in Chris Maene's collection demonstrate that this tradition continued through the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century, with a number of unique and innovative designs represented here. Clearly the tradition is still flourishing today, with bold innovation informed by knowledge of the past. One of the centrepieces of the collection is a harpsichord built by Chris Maene himself in the Flemish style, and of course the newly designed straight-strung modern concert grand. Fascinating to see the soundboard rose decoration on the latest Maene creation carrying forward the style of the harpsichord.