Our history

In 1947, the mayor, Charles Deliège, and Samuël Glotz, who at that time was a teacher, launched the idea of creating a museum dedicated to the Carnival of Binche. Supported by the Belgian Royal Commission of Folklore, they met with Emile Langui, the director of the department of Arts and Letters of the ministry of Culture.

The latter was not convinced of the creation of a museum with an essentially local character and persuaded them to enlarge their project to other carnivals and to also include festivals from Europe and even from the whole world.

In 1962 an exhibition on “The carnival in Wallonia” was held at the municipal theatre aiming at raising awareness among the local population and preparing the ground. This event was organized by the municipality of Binche in collaboration with the Tourism Federation and the Cultural Centre of the Province of Hainaut. The great success of this exhibition encouraged the local authorities to carry out their project of an international museum.

Having enacted the foundation of the international Carnival and Mask Museum on 27 November 1963, the municipal council budgeted considerable sums for the acquisition of items. During twelve years before its official opening, acquisitions followed one another and a substantial collection consisting of local, European and international objects was set up.

In 1975, the Belgian government, in collaboration with the Council of Europe and UNESCO, requested that the exhibition “The mask in the European tradition” be organized in Binche. The opening of this exhibition, organized under the high patronage of his HM King Baudouin by the French Community’s ministry of Culture, the Province of Hainaut and the municipality of Binche, took place on the same day as the official opening of the international Carnival and Mask Museum, on 13 June 1975.

In 2025, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the institution undergoes modernisation in order to better reach its public and becomes the MUMASK, mask and carnival museum.

Since its creation and thanks to the works of its different curators, the museum has been able to build up an exceptional collection of 30 000 pieces, corresponding to 13 000 inventory numbers. In the exhibition rooms, masks, costumes, puppets, accessories, musical instruments, photographies, posters and multimedia documents are presented side by side.

This diversity illustrates the originality of our institution which studies on an equal basis carnivals and masking practices, which is a fairly uncommon approach among ethnological museums. Intangible heritage as a whole is hence at the heart of our actions.

Today, museums can no longer make do with displaying objets in showcases. Simply presenting items is not sufficient anymore and it is necessary to create ties with the visitors. Far from being just inert witnesses, collections have to be part of an immersive experience encouraging engagement, curiosity and emotion, especially when dealing with intangible heritage.

It is with this in mind that we are developing more and more immersive and educational mediation tools aimed at a large public, but also in order to make the visit more accessible for the visually and hearing impaired as well as for children.

In the 16th century, the site of the MUMASK was occupied by the “Ostel” of the count Philippe II de Lalaing.

This “Ostel” was later acquired by a Binchois, Jehan du Quesne, canon of the Notre-Dame cathedral church of Cambrai, in order to found there a secondary school in 1570.

After more than a century of existence, the institution was entrusted in 1727 to the Augustinians, a teaching religious congregration, who tackled the school’s reorganization and the renovation of the buildings.

The main building was reconstructed in 1738 and has three storeys built to both sides of a bluestone staircase. In 1778, a wing was added to the main building. Today the museum’s main entrance is located in this wing. On the ground floor there was an old chapel which later became part of the gymnasium of Binche’s public school. It currently houses the museum’s auditorium and projection room.

The school was abandoned by the congregation in 1794 and reopened its doors in 1802 as a municipal school and later, in 1881, as a boys’ middle school. In 1949, the school became an “athénée royal” and from 1956 it was progressively transferred to the outskirts of the town.

On 3 March 1965, which was Ash Wednesday, the building was listed by the Royal Commission for Monuments and Sites.

Later on, the municipality of Binche decided to house a museum in this beautiful architectural ensemble and created the international Carnival and Mask Museum, now called “MUMASK, mask and carnival museum”.