Brussels Expo Tips: The Boys Who Lived

Two boys survived the impossible. One defeated a dark wizard and grew into the world’s most famous wizarding apprentice. The other died at barely nineteen, but has haunted the imagination of everyone who ever saw his golden death mask for over a hundred years.

This autumn, Harry Potter and Tutankhamun live just a stone’s throw apart on the Heysel. Reason enough to head out there with the whole family and/or a gang of friends.

A wizarding apprentice for a day

In Harry Potter™: The Exhibition (Brussels Expo, Palais 2) you’ll walk among authentic film props and original costumes worn by the actors — right down to the smallest details, from handmade buttons to scorch marks. More than twenty themed rooms bring iconic scenes to life. Take a seat in Hagrid’s chair, crawl into the cupboard under the stairs at the Dursleys’ for a photo, brew a potion, or cast a spell yourself.

The pharaoh who was never forgotten

A stone’s throw away, in Terminal 1, you’ll step into Tutankhamun’s tomb at Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition. A colossal video-mapping hall with projections up to eight meters high tells the story of Egyptian civilization — from its mythical origins to the discovery of the tomb in 1922, narrated in the voice of archaeologist Howard Carter himself. Wander through the Valley of the Kings via a metaverse experience. Admire both refined replicas and original artifacts, some of which are more than 4,000 years old. And above all: take a seat for a virtual-reality journey through the Egyptian afterlife and discover how the pharaohs believed in eternal life. For a young king who died at just 19 but whose name is still known worldwide 4,000 years later, that certainly seems to have come true.

Brussels Expo: something for everyone

With one wave of the wand, you go straight from the magical world to antiquity. Not done playing yet? Terminal 1 has more in store: fight your way through a horde of zombies with a VR headset at EVA’s battle arena, race around the track with bonuses and weapons in Supercube’s augmented-reality karting, or take the wheel in the The Sim Power racing simulator. Or would you rather compete against each other with the various adventurous games from The Mission? And within walking distance you’ll also find Mini-Europe and the Atomium.

However diverse your group — young kids, teens, parents, and grandparents — with the widest range of interests on top of that, at the Heysel, there’s something to make everyone happy!