BRUSSELS.- On November 29th, the Board of Directors of the ASBL Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique decided to postpone BRAFA in view of the deteriorating health situation in Belgium and in Europe. This Tuesday, December 14th, the ASBL Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique, meeting in Extraordinary General Assembly, unanimously decided that BRAFA 2022 will now take place at Brussels Expo (Heysel) from Sunday, June 19th to Sunday, June 26th.

“Being able to meet and discover the works face-to-face in an elegant setting is one of the great assets of BRAFA. A fair has no equal to bring together the main market players: exhibitors, collectors, and art lovers who particularly appreciate BRAFA for its eclecticism and its friendly atmosphere. We therefore felt it was essential to find a suitable place in an events calendar disrupted by the pandemic. We believe that June, far removed from the resurgence of Covid-19 in winter, is the most opportune month to organise the fair in optimal conditions and also to allow visitors to discover the various exhibitions and cultural events that will be held at that time in Belgium,” explained Harold t'Kint de Roodenbeke, the Chairman of BRAFA.

New dates: BRAFA 2022 will take place from Sunday, June 19th to Sunday, June 26th.

A new exhibition space for BRAFA

From June 2022, the BRAFA will also change its location. After a first edition in 1956 and 11 years spent in the Arlequin room of the Galerie Louise, the fair was established for more than 35 years at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels before settling for nearly 20 years in the Tour & Taxis venue. A page turns; BRAFA will now be held at Brussels Expo on the Heysel plateau north of the Belgian capital.

Beatrix Bourdon, the Managing Director of BRAFA, confirmed: “We were fortunate to collaborate with Nextensa, the owner and manager of Tour & Taxis, for almost 18 years. Today, the group told us of its ambitions to redevelop certain projects to make it an even more sustainable neighbourhood, which makes their site unsuitable for the organisation of BRAFA. We therefore started looking for a place in Brussels that would be big enough to accommodate all of our exhibitors and visitors, and our choice naturally turned to Brussels Expo on the Heysel plateau. An emblematic exhibition space that benefits from spaces adapted to an international fair like ours, which requires between 12,000 and 18,000 m² of space.”

Located close to the centre of Brussels and with plenty of access and parking facilities (20 minutes from Brussels International Airport, 20 minutes from the Brussels-Midi train station, the arrival station of the Eurostar and the Thalys, close to road access and public transport, etc.), this place, well known to Belgians, has been designed to host various international fairs and events.

Brussels Expo is renowned for its prestigious past, whose landmark monument is undoubtedly the Atomium, the symbol of the Exposition 58. The infrastructure of its exhibition halls is a legacy of the Brussels Universal Exhibitions of 1935 and 1958. Its facades bear witness to the remarkable architecture that developed in Brussels in the 1930s: Art Deco.

BRAFA begins a new chapter in its history, whilst pursuing its mission to offer an ever more qualitative international fair thanks to a rigorous selection of participating galleries, exceptional works, impeccable organisation, and an elegance and conviviality that make it an unmissable place for meetings and artistic exchanges in Europe.