The Belgian Comic Strip Center (french: Centre belge de la Bande dessinée; nl, Belgisch Stripcentrum) is a museum in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, dedicated to Belgian comics. It is located at 20, /, in an

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

building designed by

Victor Horta Victor Pierre Horta (; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels, built in 1892–93, is often ...

, and can be accessed from

Brussels-Congress railway station Brussels-Congress railway station (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Congrès, nl, Station Brussel-Congres), officially Brussels-Congress (french: Bruxelles-Congrès, link=no, nl, Brussel-Congres, link=no) is a train stop on the North–South connec ...

and

Brussels Central Station Brussels Central Station (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Central, nl, Station Brussel-Centraal), officially Brussels-Central (french: Bruxelles-Central, link=no, nl, Brussel-Centraal, link=no), is a railway and metro station in central Brussels, B ...

History of the building

The building was designed in 1905 by the world-famous architect

, in

style, and served as a textile department store, the ''Magasins Waucquez''. After Waucquez's death in 1920, the building began to languish away, and in 1970, the firm closed its doors. Jean Delhaye, a former aide of Horta, saved the building from demolition, and by 16 October 1975, it was designated as a protected monument. Still, the building was in bad shape and victim to a lot of vandalism. In 1980, the architect Jean Breydel and the comics artists François Schuiten, Bob de Moor, Alain Baran, Guy Dessicy, and Hergé, planned to restore the building and give it a new destination as a museum dedicated to the history of Belgian comics. Originally, the museum would be a homage to Hergé, but he suggested honouring the entire Belgian comics industry. In 1983, Belgian Minister of Public Works, Louis Olivier, decided that the building would be bought by the Direction of Buildings, making it national property. In 1984, a fund was founded which brought together several

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

and Walloon comics artists. Two years later, the restorations began, with respect for the original architecture, while updating it to modern standards. The

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s were flown over from Italy and constructed by Italian mosaic workers, because the profession had become obsolete in Belgium. On 6 October 1989, the museum was inaugurated in the presence of King Baudouin and

Queen Fabiola Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

. In the Autumn of 2015, the museum started redecorating its permanent exhibition. File:Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée - 30.jpg, Exterior facade of the building File:Anciens magasins Waucquez - 07.jpg, Entrance staircase File:Anciens magasins Waucquez - 04.jpg,

lamppost File:Etage MBBD.jpg, Main skylight on the second floor File:Etage bis MBBD.jpg, Second floor

The museum

The ground floor of the museum holds a restaurant, a room dedicated to Victor Horta, a comics' store named "Slumberland" after '' Little Nemo in Slumberland'', a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

with a reading room and a study centre. The first floor has an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

, a room with original comic book pages by various artists and a room dedicated to

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

, more specifically the Belgian animation industry, such as

Belvision Raymond Leblanc (born 22 May 1915 – 21 March 2008) was a Belgian comic book publisher, film director and film producer, best known for publishing works such as ''The Adventures of Tintin'' by Hergé and ''Blake and Mortimer'' by Edgar P. Jaco ...

. The second floor has a permanent exhibition dedicated to the chronological history of the medium in Belgium called "The Museum of Imagination". The exhibit starts off with Hergé and ends with Peyo, covering the pioneers of Belgian comics between 1929 and 1958 and with special focus on the magazines '' Spirou'' and ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

''. Each artist has a room dedicated to his work and designed in a playful way. The final floor is dedicated to the

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

of comics and available for provisional exhibitions. File:Musée Hergé, Brussels 06.jpg, Entrance hall File:Bruxelles rue des Sables 20 1002.jpg, Library File:Publiart.jpg, Entrance to the PUBLIART space File:Musée Hergé, Brussels 04.jpg, Exhibition space

List of the exhibited comics artists

Four artists exhibited are Flemish: Willy Vandersteen,

Marc Sleen Marcel Honoree Nestor ( ridder) Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. He was mostly known for his comic '' The Adventures of Nero and Co.'', but also created gag comics like '' Piet Fluwijn ...

, Bob de Moor and Morris. The rest are Walloon or from Brussels, except for Jacques Martin and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

who were born in France, but published in ''

''. * Hergé - (''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...

'', ''

Quick and Flupke ''The exploits of Quick and Flupke'' (french: link=no, Quick et Flupke, gamins de Bruxelles, ) was a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Serialised weekly from January 1930 to 1940 in , the children's supplement of conservative Belgian new ...

'', ''

Jo, Zette and Jocko ''The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko'' is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Hergé, the writer-artist best known for ''The Adventures of Tintin''. The heroes of the series are two young children, brother and sister Jo and Zette Legran ...

'') *

Jijé Joseph Gillain (), better known by his pen name Jijé (; 13 January 1914 – 19 June 1980), was a Belgian comics artist, best known for being a seminal artist on the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' strip (and for having introduced the Fantasio character) a ...

- ('' Spirou et Fantasio'', ''

Jerry Spring ''Jerry Spring'' is a Franco-Belgian comics, Franco-Belgian Western (genre), Western comics series created by the Belgium, Belgian comic book creator, comics creator Jijé. Originally published in ''Spirou (magazine), Spirou'' magazine, the serie ...

'') *

Edgar P. Jacobs Edgard Félix Pierre Jacobs (30 March 1904 – 20 February 1987), better known under his pen name Edgar P. Jacobs, was a Belgium, Belgian comic book creator (writer and artist), born in Brussels, Belgium. He was one of the founding fathers of the ...

- ('' Blake and Mortimer'') * Willy Vandersteen - ('' Suske en Wiske'') *

- ('' The Adventures of Nero'') *

Maurice Tillieux Maurice Tillieux (7 August 1921 – 2 February 1978) was a Belgians, Belgian writer and comic artist. He is regarded by many as a major figure of post-World War II, war Belgian comics. Early life Maurice Tillieux was born in Huy in 1921. At f ...

- (''

Gil Jourdan Gil Jourdan is a Belgian detective comic strip created by Maurice Tillieux. It is a combination of mystery, adventure and humour. Origin and premise In 1956 the Belgian comic magazine '' Héroïc Albums'' ceased publication. ''Felix'', the adve ...

'') * Bob De Moor - (''

Cori, de Scheepsjongen ''Cori, de Scheepsjongen'' ("Cori, the cabin boy"/ "Cori Le Moussaillon" in French) was a Belgian comics series (1952–93) by Bob de Moor. It is a historical adventure strip set in the 16th century, drawn in a realistic style with much attention ...

'') * André Franquin - ('' Spirou et Fantasio'', '' Marsupilami'', ''

Gaston Lagaffe ''Gaston'' is a Belgian gag-a-day comic strip created in 1957 by the Belgian cartoonist André Franquin in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou''. The series focuses on the everyday life of Gaston Lagaffe (whose surname means "the blund ...

'', '' Franquin's Last Laugh'') * Jacques Martin - (''

The Adventures of Alix ''Alix'', or ''The Adventures of Alix'', is a Franco-Belgian comics series drawn in the ligne claire style by Jacques Martin. The stories revolve around a young Gallo-Roman man named Alix in the late Roman Republic. Although the series is re ...

'') * Morris - ('' Lucky Luke'') *

Paul Cuvelier Paul Cuvelier (22 November 1923 – 5 July 1978) was a Belgian comics artist best known for the comic series '' Corentin'', published by Le Lombard, which first appeared in the first issue of ''Tintin'' magazine. Biography Paul Cuvelier was born ...

- ('' Corentin'') *

Victor Hubinon Victor Hubinon (26 April 1924 – 8 January 1979) was a Belgian comic-book artist, best known for the series ''Buck Danny'' and ''Redbeard''. Biography Victor Hubinon was born in Angleur, Belgium, in 1924.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Victor Hubino ...

- ('' Buck Danny'') *

- (''

Chick Bill ''Chick Bill'' is a Belgian humorous Western comic book series created by Tibet. It was first published in 1953 in the magazine ''Chez Nous Junior'', and its Dutch language counterpart '' Ons Volkske'', and began serial publication on October 19, 1 ...

'', '' Ric Hochet'') * Raymond Macherot - (''

Chlorophylle Chlorophylle was a Belgian comics series and Raymond Macherot's best known work, alongside '' Sibylline''. It is a fantasy comic about anthropomorphic forest animals, including the title character Chlorophylle, who is a dormouse. Description C ...

'', ''

Sybilline The sibyls (, singular ) were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he described local traditio ...

'') * Jean Roba - ('' Boule et Bill'') * Peyo - (''

Johan and Peewit ''Johan and Peewit'' (french: Johan et Pirlouit, ) is a Belgian comics series created by Peyo. Since its initial appearance in 1947 it has been published in 13 albums that appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992. Thereafter, a team of comic bo ...

'', ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and in ...

'') File:Gaston Lagaffe monument. Boulevard Pachéco. Brussels.jpg, ''

'' File:Belgian Comic Strip Center + Lucky Luke.jpg, '' Lucky Luke'' and ''

Jolly Jumper Jolly Jumper is a horse character in the Franco-Belgian comics series ''Lucky Luke'', created by Belgian artist Morris. Described as "the smartest horse in the west" and able to perform tasks such as chess-playing and tightrope walking, Jolly Ju ...

'' File:Musée Hergé, Brussels 10.jpg, ''

Marc Sleen Museum

Since 2009, directly across the Belgian comics museum, in the same street, another comics-themed museum can be found, the

Marc Sleen Museum The Marc Sleen Museum (french: Musée Marc Sleen, nl, Marc Sleen Museum) is a museum located in Brussels, Belgium, dedicated to the work of Belgian comics artist Marc Sleen, who is known for his series ''The Adventures of Nero'', ''Piet Fluwijn ...

, dedicated to the work of Belgian comics artist

References

Notes

External links

* {{ACArt Museums in Brussels Art museums and galleries in Belgium Centre for Comic Strip Art Tintin Art museums established in 1989 Victor Horta buildings 1989 establishments in Belgium Cartooning museums Art Nouveau architecture in Brussels Art Nouveau retail buildings Art Nouveau museum buildings City of Brussels Comics-related organizations

History of the building

The museum

List of the exhibited comics artists

Marc Sleen Museum

See also

References

Notes

External links