Belgium from A to Z

What can you experience in Belgium?

A for abbey, absurdity, archaeology, Art Nouveau

B for beer, battlefields, billiard, beguinages, belfries, baroque

C for comic strip, capitalism, castle, chocolate, cycling, cheese, chicory, carnival, ceramics

D for danse, democracy, diamonds, diplomacy, Father Damien

E for European Union

F for fashion, food, federalism, fries, festivals

G for gardens, gothic architecture, green, glass

H for humanists, history, humor

I for industrial heritage, international

J for jenever

K for kermesse

L for lace, languages, liberal

M for musea, monarchy, mussels, medieval cities

N for neutrality

O for old

P for painters, politics, Poirot, pralines, printing, paper

Q for the Queen Elizabeth contest, but also quaint museums

R for religious orders/life, rain, railways

S for saxophone, spa, self-deprecating, soccer, surrealism, sprouts

T for tennis, trade, trappist, taxes

U for urban

V for vegetables, vol-au-vent

W for waffles, world exhibition, waterzooi

Z for zoology

None of these are uniquely Belgian in isolation, but in combination, they make Belgium a pretty unique country consisting of beautiful Brussels, fabulous Flanders and wonderful Wallonia.

Grand-Hornu - industrial paternalism in the Borinage

In 1810, at the age of 36 years, Henri De Gorge acquired the colliery of Grand-Hornu. At the time, Belgium was emerging as the second industrial nation in the world after Britain. The steel, mining and textile industries rapidly developed. Railroads were built. Fortunes were made (and lost).
The Borinage region in the South of the Hainaut province played a major role in this development. The Borinage already had a long coal cultures, starting in the early 18th century, when farmers dug up coal from their fields. Coal was used initially for domestic purposes. By 1730, 110 pits operated in the region. In the year 1820, ¾ of the coal demand in France was supplied from the Borinage.At its peak, the Hainaut region provided 30% of world coal supply in 1870.
During the coal boom, the region failed to develop other industries,and become too much dependent on its coal industry. After the gradual decline and eventual demise of the industry in the 20th century, the region was bled white.

The resulting abject poverty of the Borinage was captured by the 1933 documentary by Henri Storck and Joris Ivens ‘Misère Au Borinage’. It shows the slums surrounding mines, high unemployment, child labour, … A recent movie from Patric Jean shows that these conditions still continue until today, though the mines have now closed meanwhile.

Back in 1810, things looked much brighter. The world was rapidly moving away from charcoal to coal, for which demand was insatiable. Between 1810 to 1830 (the year of Belgium’s independence), Henri De Gorge developed Grand-Hornu, increased its annual production from 10,000 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes. The number of pits grew from 2 to 12.

He built an elegant complex of offices, stables, workshops, foundries and furnaces in neo-classical style. He surrounded it with 440 worker’s houses. With 2 floors of 3 rooms each, they were beyond comparison with living conditions elsewhere in the region in terms of luxury and facilities. The site included a hospital, food shop, a bakery, butchery, schools, recreation facilities, ...

Grand-Hornu is unique in various respects. For its elegant, classicist architecture which is unusual for an industrial estate. Or for its scale of industrial paternalism. It was not unusual for industry to provide housing to workers, but not at the scale of 440 units. The story of Grand-Hornu is also a story of early industrialisation, when captains of industry lacked infrastructure taken for granted today. Grand-Hornu, together with a couple of other collieries has been proposed for the tentative list of Unesco World Heritage sites.

Did Henri De Gorges take care well of his employees? Was he a social entrepreneur ahead of his time? The rationale of building these relatively comfortable homes was to attract and retain workers in the mine. With a shortage of labour, and many pits operating in the region and in Northern France competing for skilled labourers, Grand-Hornu depended on sufficient manpower for its development.

On the one hand, we see a picture of benevolent paternalism, where Henri De Gorge provides an income, housing, healthcare, food, education and recreation to his employees. On the other, we learn that workers could never buy but only rent their housing on a weekly basis, and remain there only as long as they were employed by the mine. There were problems with health - 35% of miners suffers from nystagmus, a condition of involuntary eye movement, 60% were affected by silicosis, a respiratory disease (which was only recognised in 1964 as an occupational hazard). In the early days, the use of naked-flame lamps caused frequent, deadly accidents.

The actual situation will probably have been somewhere in the middle between benevolent paternalism and ruthless exploitation, though most sources tend to report in favour of Henri De Gorge.

Grand-Hornu, remained in operation until 1954. The current site is still largely preserved, used as a culture centre. It houses the Musée des Arts Contemporain (MAC; same times; www.mac-s.be ). The houses around Grand-Hornu remain occupied, though now in private ownership. The visit to the estate, including audio-guide takes about an hour.

References

1. Fontaine, J. (2011, May 21). Borinage. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 10, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borinage 
2. Grand-Hornu. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2011, from http://www.grand-hornu.be/ 
3. Greefs, H., Blonde, B., & Clark, P. (2005). Chapter 13. In Towns, regions and industries (pp. 210-211). Manchester University Press.
   Google Books http://bit.ly/ujTTQz
4. Hudson, K. (1979). World Industrial Archaeology (pp. 60-62). Cambridge University Press.
   Available as Google Book http://bit.ly/rLhiFJ
5. Jean, P. (Director). (2011, June 8). Poverty in former coalmine area [Video]. Retrieved December 10, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZxEMDc1M80
6. Les sites miniers majeurs de Wallonie. (2008, April 8). UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved December 10, 2011, from http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5363/
7. Misère au Borinage. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 9, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misère_au_Borinage
8. [Preface]. (1981). In G. L. Brabander (Author), Regional specialization, employment, and economic growth in Belgium from 1846 to 1970 (p. I). New York: Arno Press.
   Also available through Google Books http://bit.ly/ui7Pji

Bakery Museum in Veurne

We visited the Bakery Museum on the way back from France and were unfortunate to pick one of the days without a workshop. There are about 200 workshops per year, so make sure you visit when there is one scheduled.
The setting of the museum is in the restored, 17th century Zuidgasthoeve (‘hoeve’ means ‘farm’ in Flemish and Dutch). It collects material related to Belgium’s (recent) bakery heritage.

The visit goes through a series of exhibits of what can be expected - a reconstruction of an old bakery shop, tools from the atelier, … Interesting are the videos showing the intricate, artisanal process of producing a caramel candy called babelutten, a specialty from the Belgian coast.

The best part however starts when you move to the barn. There you see wax displays of the hundreds of types of bread used around the world. You can also see some heavy machinery, and a display on the different types of cereals and flowers.

Lambic Visitor Centre

Next to the new tourist office of Beersele, near the starting point of the Herisem walk, you’ll find the brand new (open since May 2011) Lambic visitor centre where you can learn all about this unique beer culture from the Pajottenland.
Beer has been produced in this region at least since 500, though the beers of the past were nothing like what we consume today. Particularly preserving beer was a problem - the first beers could be kept only a few days, in sharp contrast to today’s Gueuze beers, which after a second fermentation in the bottle can be preserved almost indefinitely.
The centre explains the fine differences between Lambic, Gueuze and Kriek. Lambic is produced with a mixture of wheat and barley malt. Unlike other beers, no yeast is added - fermentation takes place in a coolship where the wort is exposed to wild yeasts and bacteria in the air, that are native to the Senne valley. This process only can take place in the cooler months (seven months per year). There have been many attempts to produce Lambic outside of the Senne valley, but none successful so far. Gueuze is uniquely from Brabant.

Gueuze beers are produced by blending various Lambic beers. For the label ‘Old Gueuze’, one must use Lambic of at least 3 years old, but this needs to be combined with young Lambic (around 1 year) to ensure that refermentation occurs in the bottle.

One can easily imagine the artisanal nature of the process. In fact, it would be impossible to organise production of Gueuze beers on an industrial scale. By blending gueuze beers with various Lambics, almost infinite variation is possible.

The resulting beer has a vinous quality. It can be used in recipes where normally white wine would be used, such as fish, mussels, jelly, sabayon, ...

The brand new visitor centre takes about an hour to visit, including the video. There are regular tours at 14h00 and 16h00. The centre is organised around the products of 10 artisanal brewers, who are presented in gallery. Their products can be locally tasted. Bruno - my host - explains that bottles can be sampled in a group, to allow a party to sample the wide variety of Gueuze beers - he’ll provide each visitor with a glass to share. Beers can also be purchased for consumption at home (they cost around 2.5-3.5 euro per bottle).

Nearby, you can visit the Caste of Beersel, do one of the walks such as the Herisem walk (visit the Herisem water mill on the way), or go to the Church of our Lady, a sanctuary.

Good to know

• The current Gueuze bottle strongly resembles Champagne bottles. This shape has only been introduced in 1865.
• In 1910, Gueuze consumption went down dramatically due to the rising popularity of Pils (Lager beer).
• The name ‘Gueuze’ is protected since 1958. Since 1997, Horal protects and promotes the quality of Lambic beers and derived products.
• Lambic ripes in used wooden wine or port barrels. New barrels contain too much tannic acid to be used for Gueuze.
• During the 2011 Tour de Gueuze, brewers produced a Megablend of 8 Lambics. One Asian visitor bid 250 euro for one bottle.
• Gueuze beers contain about 6-7% alcohol.

Museum of Original Figurines

After the Belgian Comic Strip Centre and the Marc Sleen and Herge museums, Belgium now also has the Museum of Original Figurines, or MOOF. ‘Noblesse oblige’ - in our coverage of comic strip culture, we need to pay a visit, though with not too high expectations.

On 3500 m2, the MOOF displays about 600 figurines - 3D representations of comic strip heroes. They are shown individually or in a scene. These figurines are collector’s items produced typically in a series of a few hundred units. Though none of the figurines is unique, the collection probably is the largest number of figurines on display. A very wide variety of comic strip heroes is shown.

About 45 minutes suffice to visit the MOOF. If it weren’t for displays on the history of Tintin magazine or the room dedicated to the Belgian animation industry, the visit would even be faster. In the last room, the museum presents the Raymond Leblanc Foundation, with its biannual price to stimulate young comic strip talent.

As a museum, the MOOF is a bit thin. It could be a great event venue. Unfortunately, at the time of my visit, no event was taken place, and I was almost the only visitor. Let’s hope the organizers find a good direction for their project in the years to come.

Flemish Comic Strip Centre

Since 30 years, ‘t Vlaams Stripcentrum is a private, non-profit initiative to disseminate comic strip culture. With 3,000 members, 30,000 comic strips and 800,000 loans - going for a million - the centre offers a library second to none in Belgium.

From humble beginnings (a few boxes in a closet in a parish hall by a couple of scout leaders), the centre meanwhile has its own building with library, video library, information centre, comic cave and antique section.

In short, it’s a great place to discover comic strip culture in its full breadth, without spending a fortune. Many of the strips on loan are no longer available in shops. And by using the library, you support an unique initiative - fees for lending strips are used exclusively to develop the library and centre.
As a Flemish centre, the books are primarily in the Dutch language. There is a limited offering in English and French. For non-speakers of Dutch, comic strips can be a great instrument to help learn the language while in Belgium.

The location is Wilrijk, near Antwerp and about 45 minutes from Brussels. To lend comic strips, you need to become a member of the association. There are individual and family memberships, costing respectively 10 and 20 euro per year, and allowing you to lend 20 or 30 comic strips.

Saint Rumbold's Cathedral

When Lecturama published a series of 35 books about travelling in the Benelux in the eighties, it surprisingly dedicated one of the volumes to the city of Mechelen (Malines). With 12 provinces in The Netherlands, 10 in Belgium, Luxembourg as a country, and cities such as Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Leuven, Liège, Namur, Rotterdam, ‘s Hertogenbosch and The Hague, why devote a full volume to Mechelen?

Located between Antwerp and Brussels, the former capital of the Low Countries tends to be neglected, in favour of Bruges or Ghent. A visit to Mechelen demonstrates that it’s yet another secret that we Belgians have kept very well to ourselves.

St Rumbold (St Rombout in Dutch) is the patron saint of Mechelen. Not much is known for certain of the 8th century saint. He’s usually believed to have died in 775, but when examining remains assumed to be his, they could be dated in the late 6th or first half of the 7th century. He’s believed to have stayed only 10 years in Mechelen, during which time he made a deep impression. His seemingly limitless resources led robbers to believe in a treasure of St Rumbold, and they kidnapped him. He was martyred but died virtually pennyless.
The tower was constructed between 1452 and 1520 as part of the cathedral. Since 1999, the tower is on the UNESCO heritage list. If is also a belfry and contains 2 carillons of 49 bells. The oldest bells date from the 15th century. The heaviest bell weighs 9 tons. A second carillon was added much more recently, in 1981.

Carillon playing was pretty much invented in Mechelen. Since 1922, Mechelen has the Royal Carillon School, offering a 6 year program. The school has over 500 graduates.

The Russian word for carillon is ‘malinoviy zvon‘ meaning ‘bell-ringing from Malines’. It was introduced by Czar Peter the First (The Great) who visited Mechelen (Malines) when in Holland and often listened to carillon playing. However, since Mechelen (Malines) is not well known in Russia, and phonetically the word malines is close to малина (raspberry), Russians may tell you that carillon playing has something to do with raspberries (thanks to my colleague Vadim for this story!).

With its height of 97 meters, the tower is a landmark for Mechelen which has otherwise few high-rise buildings. The tower is unfinished - it was planned to be 167 meters, but for unclear reasons, only 7 meters of the 77 meter spire were completed, then construction stopped for unclear reasons. Some towers in the region had recently collapsed, and it could be that the builders had insufficient confidence in the stability of the tower foundations.

At first, climbing the 538 steps of a tower might not sound too appealing. But the tower is a vertical museum in 5 rooms, topped by a panoramic view. On the way up, you pass the crane room, the forge, the bell, carillon and clock rooms. When so inclined, you can obseve the inner mechanics of the clock and carillons, or just listen to them playing a tune.

Each room takes you another 100 steps or so towards to top, where you can enjoy a panoramic view on the incredible flatness of Flanders. On a clear day, it is said, you could see the Atomium of Brussels or the Port of Antwerp. During our visit, a haze caused by the low autumn sun created a more mysterious landscape for us.

Herisem Paper Mill

About halfway through the Herisem walk of Beersel, you find the Herisem paper mill, lending its name to the walk. This tiny yet significant grouping of buildings has been occupied at least since the 8th century, at which time a Franconian farm stood at the location. The name Herisem can be traced back to Harja-heim, settling place of Harja.

Since the 14th century, a water mill was installed, and production of paper began in 1536. The site is the main remnant of the Alsemberg paper industry which once had 15 paper mills producing along the Molenbeek (“Mill Brook”). The mill developed in the following centuries. In 1763, Gillis Winderickx married the daughter of the owner and took over the mill. He set the site on a successful path to growth. During the 19th century, production of paper was no longer possible due to pollution of the brook, and the mill switched to cardboard.
In 1848, crisis struck but ten years later, the mill recovered to a last golden age, which was interrupted by WW-I. During WW-II, the machines were mothballed with the aim of restarting production after the war, but this never happened. The combined effects of 2 world wars and a world crisis in-between meant the end of 4 centuries of industrial activity.

The site remained dormant until it was classified as a historic monument in 1979, upon which it began a new life as a museum, conference centre, celebration room, tavern and hostel.

Today, the mill can be visited. The machine par from the 19th century is still operational, though it no longer produces. It’s pretty remarkable to find this site during the Herisem walk, and learn that it actually has over a 1,000 years of history.

According its the website, Herisem is 15 minutes drive from the centre of Brussels. Except on a quiet Sunday morning, you’d probably need a bit more time. But this quiet place, in the deep Belgian country side, remains just 15 km outside Brussels.

Map of Belgian tourist attractions

Why this map? In Belgium, distances are small, but still it can take you up to 2 hours to reach Belgium’s extremities from Brussels. It would be a pity, having travelled the distance, to miss a nearby attraction. Therefore this map, to be used as a planning tool.

You’d think that this service would already be available from tourist offices, and to some extent it is. Sometimes, local tourist information is detailed but fragmented. And information at national level is limited as tourism is a regional matter in Belgium. With a soft curtain between Flanders and Wallonia, it’s also harder to spot tourist attractions across the language border.

Therefore this map, to puzzle it all together in high resolution. In the current version, the map includes about 600 tourist attractions.

How many tourist attractions does Belgium have? We have 365 attractions listed in the very incomplete guide 365.be. Lannoo does a bit better with 1000 must-see places in Belgium. Allegedly, we have over 3,000 castles - through most will not be tourist attractions. OKV’s museum guide lists 400 museums just for Flanders & Brussels. And Wikipedia lists over 70 abbeys. The links to these benchmarks can be found in a diigo list. If we include abbeys, battlefields, castles, industrial archaeology, monuments, museums, parks and walks, we’ll easily end up with 1,000s of sites, and this map is - at best - only 20% complete.

Frietmuseum

The Frietmuseum (Museum of French fries) in Bruges is unique in the world. At first, its name seems to reveal one of these artificial places often created at tourist hotspots. The ground floor is actually about the history of the potato. Only on the second floor will you learn the origin of frying them. I guess there are weirder museums in the world. As for authenticity, Belgium probably needs this museum, and Bruges is as good a place as any to locate it.

The visit starts with the history of the potato, from its origins in Latin America 13,000 years ago. The crop was domesticated 8,000 years ago, and has since evolved into 4,000 varieties with a global annual production of 330 million tonnes in 2009. When taking into account that about one third of production is used as cattle food, 33 kg of potatoes are produced annually per world citizen.

The potato came to Europe via Spain in the 16th century, but was not an immediate success. At first, it was used as cattle food, until Antoine Parmentier had the French potato fields guarded in order to increase the perceived value of the crop. The high yield (16 tons per hectare) led to massive replacement of wheat by potato production, and to population booms in France and Ireland. Potatoes proved to be a mixed blessing though, when in the 18th century, overdependence and massive failure of the potato harvest led to the Great Irish Famine.
Moving to the first floor, the storyline changes from potatoes to fries. We learn that fries may, or may not be of Belgian origin. There is no scientific proof either way. Fries may have originated from the Mosane region of Belgium in the mid 18th century, where people had a habit to fry small fish. When the river froze in winter, they used potatoes instead. But French fries might as well be of Spanish rather than Belgian origin.

Incidentally, why are Belgian fries called French? Because American soldiers during the first world-war, when offered fries from French-speaking Belgian soldiers, mistook them for being French.

The visit goes on how to make fries. Fries are produced around the world, but for Belgian fries, frites of 10-13 mm are required to be fried twice, first 6 minutes at 130-140 degrees, then 1.5-3 minutes at 165-170 degrees.

Are fries healthy? According to the museum staff, what makes fries unhealthy is the sauces, beers and various croquettes we eat together with them. Potatoes are 80% water. Large fries will be healthier than thin fries. If you go easy on the sauce, and eat a salad rather than a cheese croquette on the side, fries can be indulged in without feelings of guilt.

If you agree, go to the cellar of the museum, where you can enjoy some real Belgian fries.

Other attractions near the Frietmuseum:

Grotere kaart weergeven

Comic Strip Walls in Antwerp

After Brussels, Antwerp also has its project to develop a trajectory of comic strip walls in its city. The project is a bit more modest for the moment. As in Brussels, comic strips are used as one of the tools for urban renewal. Unlike Brussels, Antwerp does not limit itself to comic strips, but includes cartoonists and illustrators.

Mekanik, the comic strip shop in Antwerp and the force behind the initiative produced a compelling video.

The comic strip walls can be easily visited through a short walk in the city center.

Comic Strip Culture in Belgium weergeven op een grotere kaart

Villers Abbey

Founded by 12 monks in 1146, Villers Abbey developed into a major site towards the end of the 13th century. At its peak, over 100 monks and 300 lay brothers lived on the site, which controlled a territory of more than a hundred square km spread out between Namur and Antwerp.

The site is currently in ruins, but the ruins are well preserved. Some timid attempts of restoration are undertaken, the end of which is currently not in sight. This however does not preclude a visitor imagining monastic life at the Villers site.
This is a visit rich in impressions without long explanations. It starts with the warming room, the only heated room in the 13th century complex. Later, as more chimneys were added, its function changed to winter refectory. There are thirty more rooms to explore.

Yves Plateau, collaborator of Jacques Martin (Alex) has made an a series of drawings of what once was. His reconstruction of the site, as it existed in the 13th century, can be viewed in the various rooms of the abbey. Casterman has published the drawings in an album on Villers Abbey.

Practical
Villers Abbey is about fourty minutes drive from Brussels. The visit takes minimum 1.5 hours. It is correctly priced. There is a small shop with literature on the site and on religious life. The ruin in a park setting is a grateful subject for photographers.

Schaerbeek Beer Museum

This small museum started in 1993 as a private initiative by 15 locals. Run by volunteers, and a bit off the beaten track, this museum is a must for beer lovers. The quiet place has a steady drip feed of visitors, who receive an individual tour from the museum staff. I’m met by Paula who speaks of their group as ‘15 fools’ but obviously does not regret to be one of them. Another of the 15 is a councillor in the municipality, who arranged that the museum could be housed in an abandoned school.

Paula has plenty of stories to tell about the history, folkore and manufacturing of beer. For example the story that during the Middle Ages, water quality was not good. Beer went however through extensive processing, and it was observed that beer drinkers were healthier and more resistant against epidemics than water drinkers. Our medieval ancestors attributed this to the hand of God, which explains the monastic beer tradition.

The museum has 1,500 bottles on display of Belgian beers - past & present (a feat, since there are 1,163 beers in Belgium currently available, according to the latest count). This diversity comes from the Belgian tradition to mix herbs and fruits with beer, Paula tells me. This is very different in Germany, where much stricter regulation exists of what ingredients can be used for making beer.
In one of the museum’s rooms, a pub from the early 1900s is reconstructed. Before the 18th century, few people could afford to frequent pubs, but during the industrial revolution, the pub became the living room for the workers. At the peak, in the middle of the 19th century, Belgium had over 80,000 pubs, one for every 42 citizens - a pub in every street.

The museum naturally includes Trappist and Monastery Beers. But while the Trappist denomination is well defined and protected, this is much less for monastery beers, which can be anything between monasteries brewing their own beer in the Trappist style to industrial breweries producing beers using the name of a monastery that once existed.

The museum received about a few thousand visitors per year. According to Willy (Paula’s husband), a lot of the visitors come by word of mouth. A visit takes about an hour and includes a degustation. This is a visit for the tourist wishing to explore unique sites and meet the locals. Since each visit is unique, you can visit more than once - you’ll never know which member of the fifteen you’ll meet, and which stories of Belgian’s 1,500 beers he chooses to share.

Practical
The Schaerbeek Beer Museum is open Wednesday & Saterday afternoons. Opening times are a bit limited, but understandable for a volunteer initiative currently active for almost 20 years. The location is a few kilometers outside the center of Brussels. When you make the effort, visit also the nearby Josaphat Park.

BELvue museum

BELvue is a museum about the history of Belgium. If you’re interested in a young state in which 2 very different cultures co-exist peacefully, Belgium is a model to study. If you plan to visit with children, make sure they are in their teens, and preferrably a bit precocious. This is not a frivolous museum.

Through 9 rooms, BELvue tells the history of Belgium, from its origin in 1830. Before that, Belgium had been 15 years under the reign of Willem I, King of The Netherlands. If he had been a better diplomat, one wonders what might have been - the territory currently known as Belgium could still be part of The Netherlands. On the other hand, maybe it was just a matter of time for the Catholic Southern Netherlands to separate from its reformed northern neighbours. In any case, all it took to establish Belgium was a relatively soft revolution and benevolent support from some neighbour countries, who preferred to have 2 weaker states in the heart of Europe.
Early in its independence, an industrial revolution started, based on coal, steel and textile - all industries that are nowadays a shadow of what they once were in Belgium. The first railway construction in Europe happened in Belgium (after UK). Fortunes were made. Iron & steel products developed, and their use in construction helped to spur the Art Nouveau movement in architecture. The new wealthy families commissioned the construction of small palaces, a few hundred of which still remain in Brussels today.

Before 1914, Belgium organised 7 world fairs, with an 8th one following in 1958. Not too many countries will have 8 world fairs on their record. One could indulge in speculation of what could have been, if Belgium’s development had not been interrupted by 2 World Wars.

The history of Belgium is also the history of the monarchy. There is Leopold I, our first king, taking control of a young state with determination. Or Leopold II, our second and probably greatest king, but suffering from a touch of megalomania. He was succeeded by Albert I, a popular and admired king. Then we have Leopold III, the most controversial king, not moving fast enough with the times. His son, Boudewijn I is remembered for adding a humanitarian and ethical dimension to the monarchy. The current king is Albert II, who may be our last king according to some, but let’s avoid such speculation.

Belgium is a country of internal tensions. As many countries, Belgium experienced feminist and socialist movements. But in addition, it had a Flemish emancipation and strong opposition between the Church / Catholics and liberals. All these forces gave rise to a proliferation of parties, with no single party holding anything near to a majority vote. This decentralisation of power however gives the country a degree of stability that it would not have otherwise.

Today, Belgium exists as a modern state, with one of the most comprehensive social security systems on this planet. Judged by its Human Development Index, it’s one of the more live-able countries in the world. In fact, if it weren’t for the weather, things would be close to perfection. But the fact that Belgians can complain about the weather almost daily saves so much on therapy.

Belgium is becoming a very thin state, ceding much of its sovereignty upwards to international organisations, and downward to its regions and communities. In this context, preparing the ground for a sixth constitutional reform, which left Belgium 1.5 years without a government, may prove to be a storm in a teacup.

Practical
The BELvue museum consists of 949 exhibits, which are explained in sequence through a guide in multiple languages. You can easily spend a couple of hours to see all, but 1.5 hours suffice for a good overview. There is a great museum shop, as well as a cafetaria ‘Green Kitchen’ which serves only fresh products. You can just visit BELvue, or combine with a visit to the remains of the Coudenberg Palace.

Marc Sleen Museum

When visiting the Belgian Comic Strip Center, make sure that you cross the street and enter the Marc Sleen Museum. Through the combination ticket, for a mere 1 €, this visit is one of the good deals in town.

In this intimate museum, you can experience the life and work of Marc Sleen through his creation Nero, very well known in Belgium and especially Flanders, but relatively unknown abroad.

Yet the museum is visited by Belgians and foreigners alike, tells me Brigitte Delmeire at the reception. I guess many can identify with Nero, the archetypical self-deprecating anti-hero who provides an insight into the Belgian psyche.
Comparing Marc Sleen with Hergé, the Godfather of the Belgian comic strips, there could not be a larger difference. Sleen produced 217 albums almost single-handedly, establishing a world record for the longest series by the same author. Hergé had an army of collaborators to produce a mere 23 albums. Hergé’s albums were very well researched, whereas Sleen often worked on several albums at once. Still Sleen managed to refer regularly to current affairs.

Brussels makes regular appearances in the albums of Nero, and a special exhibition currently draws attention to these scenes. There is also a Brussels walk, developed by museum staff, that takes you around these sites, with drawings to compare them to.

In short, the Marc Sleen Museum is compact. It can be visited quickly in half an hour, but you could as well spend a whole morning or afternoon if you want to see and read all. There is a reading room with Nero comics, which are - unfortunately - no longer in print. In combination with the Comic Strip Center, the visit is a good deal. In contrast to the center, which presents the breadth of the Belgian comic strip movement and can be overwhelming at times, the Marc Sleen Museum can be a breath of fresh air with its focus on a single author, nicely presented.

Belgian Comic Strip Center

A visit to the comic strip center can be many things - a journey back to childhood, a discovery of a new medium, a rediscovery of a hobby, or an encounter with the authors behind well-known heroes.

The visit is suitable for all ages. It certainly helps to already know some of the heroes on display, and most visitors may recognise at least the most famous ones, such as the Smurfs, Lucky Luke and Tintin.

Meet the authors. For example Jijé, one of the Godfathers of the Belgian comic strip movement. A jack of all trades - painter, sculptor, engraver, he was also a prolific comic strip artist, with series such as Jerry Spring, Blondin & Cirage or Tanguy & Laverdure. You’ll meet many more authors during the visit, masters and their disciples who later move on to create their own following.
Meet the heroes. For example Lucky Luke, whose 38 albums sold 300 million copies. Or the Smurfs, for which Hanna-Barbara produced 300 medium-length cartoons.

Comic strips reached their public initially through newspapers, but later as well through dedicated comic strip magazines and albums. Comic strip magazines, such as Spirou/Robbedoes, Tintin/Kuifje and later A Suivre/Wordt Vervolgd became popular in the 60s amd 70s. Spirou produced 110,000 pages from 130 authors during its lifetime. But now these magazines have all but disappeared in favour of albums.

As a young medium, the comic strip evolves. In its initial days, comic strips were used for evangelism by religion. Comic strips are a good medium for didactical purposes, especially for history lessons. Some modern strips bring a political message, more often than not through satire.

Genres proliferate, such as the historic strip (Alex), the animal strip (Chlorophyl), science-fiction (Blake & Mortimer), police comics (Gil Jourdan), fantasy (Thorgal), and so on.

Practical
The Belgian Comic Strip Center is in the heart of Brussels, within a short walking distance from all the main tourist spots in Brussels.

In summary
A well-documented museum, with a significant offering on its subject, in an Art Nouveau building by Victor Horta. A full visit takes 2 hours. Good facilities on-site, especially a comic strip shop with a large offering as well as a restaurant were you can try Belgian and international cuisine. The visit is correctly priced, especially in combination with the Marc Sleen Museum across the street.

Visit also:

1. Marc Sleen Museum
2. Hergé Museum
3. Comic strip walls in Brussels
4. Comic strip walls in Antwerp

Museum of the National Bank of Belgium

The Museum of the National Bank of Belgium started as an exhibition in 2002 (when the euro was introduced) but has meanwhile developed into a permanent museum receiving 35,000 visitors per year. If you’re interested in money as a cultural phenomenon, you can learn about it here in 4 main themes:

• the history of money (and of the National Bank)
• the role of the National Bank, i.e. to preserve the value of currency
• how financial markets function
• money as a cultural phenomenon (and not as the source of all evil)

Through 15 rooms, in a didactic way, the museum presents money in all its forms, its role in the economy, the mechanism of inflation and the role of the central bank.

The history of money goes back almost 5000 years. Early forms of payment were quite less practical than electronic currency today. And you may appreciate the value of a single currency more when learning that no less than 5 currencies were in circulation in Florence during the Renaissance.
The museum introduces the various types of money, from its primitive forms such as Yap stones and clay tables, over metal coins to modern forms such as fiduciary and electronic money. There is a great presentation on how modern money derives its value, which ultimately comes down to public trust.

Very interesting is the section on economic policy, in particular inflation. What causes inflation? Why is inflation inherent to our monetary system? How can it be controlled?

On a less serious note, there is a display on inflation through the last century. A display shows how the prices of basic products such as bread, butter and beer have evolved since the 19th century. Though prices have increased constantly, the price ratio of these basic goods has remained relatively stable. However, a daily wage, expressed in number of breads (or number of beers) has increased significantly.

For children and adults, there is a quiz about money with 30-something questions. From trivia about the use of the word money in songs to more serious questions, this quiz combines entertainment with education.

Practical
For a quick visit, count about an hour. However, an in-depth, full visit could easily take 2 hours. The location is central Brussels, a few 100 meters from Grand Place. Address and opening times can be found at www.nbbmuseum.be. Visits during the weekend are free of charge.

Rating
This is a very didactic museum presenting money in all its facets. The visit is good value for money. Displays are well presented and available in multiple languages.

Huy Fortress - Museum of Resistance and Concentration Camps

Huy Fortress was constructed by the Dutch in 1818, not many years before Belgian’s independence. It’s a monumental building dominating the city of Huy. The fortress and the city are a worthwhile destination in their own right. Its hosting of the Museum of Resistance and Concentration Camps makes the trip only more worthwhile.

This is undeniably a building for military purposes, but during the World War 2, it was used mainly as a prison.
The museum evokes one of Europe’s most miserable periods, and it evokes it well. This is not a visit to lift your spirits.

Room after room in the huge facility tells the story of World War 2. The pre-war conditions in Germany, the rise of fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain, the repression of minorities, life in the concentration camps and the resistance movement in Belgium and Northern France.

The story is mainly told through pictures, newspaper articles, pamphlets and other documents from the era. There is little commentary - it is left to the visitor to form an opinion.

Practical Information
The museum can be accessed by walk or by cable car. The entrance by walk is however not challenging, and provides a nice route with some photo opportunities. Once in the museum, you can spend easily a few hours if you want to see all, though you may find that you can only bear so much.

The visit is good value for money. This is a well documented museum in an impressive architectural building. The exhibits could be presented a bit better (with better lighting). Facilities are Spartan, but the panorama on top makes up for that.

Nearby visits:

• City of Huy, with a boat trip on the Meuse river
• Modave Castle - a medieval castle partially destroyed and rebuilt in the 17th century, belonging to the Major Heritage of Wallonia.
• Jehay Castle - a 16th century castle with an architecture unique in Europe.

Hergé Museum

Few Belgians will disagree that Tintin and its creator deserve their own museum. Meeting such high expectations must have been a challenge, but the Hergé Museum does not disappoint.

This museum is very well organised and presents the microcosmos created by Hergé through a series of drawings, photos and videos, all projected into a chronicle of the 20th century.

First of all, the visit gives insight into the life and career of Hergé. A childhood spent mostly in Belgium created a thirst for travelling that Hergé passed on to his creation. Coming from a bourgeois environment, the first albums tended to repeat national stereotypes, but as Hergé became a seasoned traveler himself, Tintin’s view of the world became more nuanced.With Tintin, Hergé also helped to create the ninth art form, the comic book, which was in full development around the mid of last century. The expression of movement and emotion in comic books was one of the major contributions of Hergé.

Hergé did not work alone, but was surrounded by a team of professionals. Creating an album that withstands the test of time requires attention to detail. Doing this 23 times is no minor feat. Hergé’s team included major comic book artists such as Edgar Jacobs and Bob De Moor, who later created their own series.

There are 227 other characters in Tintin, each with a carefully selected name and personality. Many of these have there own spotlight in the museum, such as Captain Haddock, the Thom(p)sons and Professor Calculus.

In short, this is a well organised museum, hosted in an award-winning architectural setting. The visit with audio guide is user-friendly and very good value for money. You can easily spend a few hours here. To finish your visit, there are good facilities, such as a museum shop, a spacious lobby where you can take a rest, or a restaurant. An absolute must for comic book fans.

More reviews on this museum:

• Excellent review & pictures at Wayfaring travel guide
• A few pictures to give an impression of the architectural setting
• Musée Hergé - It's More Than Tintin

PS - a new Tintin movie by Steven Spielberg will be launched this autumn. The Belgian release is also the world premiere on October 26, 2011.

PS2 - on a fine day, you can conclude your visit by having a drink or meal on the Grand Place which is just a short walk from the musem.

What to do if you have (only) a few hours to kill in Brussels?

This question was asked on Virtual Tourist by a couple having 5 hours in Brussels during a long stop-over at the airport.

Assuming it is your first visit to Brussels, and if you have the energy, it would be a pity to remain at the airport with so many things to do nearby.

There is a train from the airport to Central Station which takes 16 minutes and runs 4 times per hour. With a half hour journey each way, and one hour of buffer time, this leaves 3 hours in Brussels.
If the weather is good - always a factor in Belgium - you can do the classics. Within half a km from the Central Station, you have the Grand Place, Royal Galleries, The Sablon Church & Square, The Royal Palace, the Cathedral, and so on. Lots of photo opportunities.

Or you can take one of the city walks. There is a walk around Brussels' 40 comic strip walls, which takes you all over the town. You will not be able to complete it in 3 hours, but at least try a good portion. There is also a walk around the European Institutions and there are several walks organised around Brussels' few 100 Art Nouveau buildings.

If time allows, take a break and have a waffle at Cafe du Vaudeville in de Royal Galleries, or a beer in the Roy d'Espagne on Grand Place.

If the weather is not good (not a small probability), go to Mont des Arts and visit for example the Magritte museum. Combine it later on with above waffle or beer.

To prepare for your short stay, make sure to get a copy of the Pocket Guide for Brussels. It’s available from VisitBrussels, Koningsstraat 2-4, 1000 Brussels. It comes packed with information and maps, including above-mentioned walks.

Comic strip walls in Brussels

Belgium is not only a country of beer and chocolate. It also has a rich comic strip culture, with characters such as Tintin, The Smurfs, Lucky Luke, Largo Winch or Blake & Mortimer, to name just a few. For the comic strip fan, there are plenty of things to do in Belgium.

Since 1993, the city of Brussels started to integrate comic strips into the city’s architecture. So far, there are well over 40 comic strip walls dispersed throughout the city (35 inside the ring, 8 in Laeken). These walls typically use side facades, and blend in well with the urban landscape. Some add a touch to an otherwise dull landscape. Others are meant for urban regeneration. The walls are best visited by walk.

This walk takes you all over the town, and is a nice way to discover some of the less frequented areas of Brussels. Doing the entire walk will take the best part of a day, but the walls come in groups, and you can select a segment of the walk that suits you best. Look at our album map of the walls where you can identify a center, southern and northwestern group of comic strip walls.


Comic strip walls in Brussels weergeven op een grotere kaart

Other things in Belgium for comic strip fans:

• Comic strip walls in Antwerp - a more modest project with 8 walls so far
• Comic strip museum in Brussels
• Hergé museum in Louvain-La-Neuve
• Marc Sleen Museum in Brussels (across the street from the Comic strip museum of Brussels.

Fondation Folon

More than beer, chocolate and lace, Belgium is a country of painters. Whether it's renaissance painters such as Memling or Van Eyck, baroque painters such as Rubert, van Dyck and Jordaens, or modern expressionist, impressionist or surrealist painters, Belgium has an impressive tradition throughout centuries.

Set in the in the farm of the castle of La Hulpe, about 20 minutes outside Brussels, you can discover the Fondation Folon, introducing the works of Jean-Michel Folon, a prolific, non-pretentieus artist, painter, illustrator and sculptor with international recognition, having developed from the beginning of his career an own unique style of aquarel painting.

The museum gives an overview of about 500 works of the artist through watercolours, screen prints, etchings, posters, sculptures, stained glass, ... Of particular interest is a video on which the artist demonstrates his painting style and explains why he opted for watercolours.

Rating

• Interesting site, in nice setting. An oasis of calm just outside Brussels.
• Good concept of presenting the works of art in a historic building.
• On-site facilities such as a museum shop and nearby brasserie.
• Good value for money

Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp

The Museum Plantin-Moretus is a major gem of Antwerp's cultural patrimony. Not only does it show the home of one of the richest families in the Southern Netherlands during the Renaissance, but it also contains a fully preserved printing workshop that has operated for 300 years, and dominated printing since the 16th century. It further hosts a library of no less than 25,000 volumes all dating back from before the 18th century.

The visit gives a vivid insight what printing meant in the early days when printing presses could ony produce 1,250 pages per day, when books were sold per page, and when there was a list of fobidden books maintained by the Catholic Church - the 'Librorum Prohibitorum Index'. The workshop still displays 90 printing fonts with 10 tons of lead letters. Its library contains manuscripts from the 9th to the 18th century. The value of the museum's more than 200,000 objects has been estimated almost 400 million euro.

The visit is supported by an audio guide which gives ample information. A full tour, at leisure, can easily take 3-4 hours. Something to preserve for a rainy day when in Antwerp, but make sure not to miss it!

Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerpen, a photo by Erf-goed.be on Flickr.