Brussels: area by area: The Lower Town – Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée

Belgian Centre of Comic Strip Art

The Waucquez Warehouses are considered to be one of the masterpieces of the most famous Belgian Art Nouveau architect, Victor HORTA. Horta built the house in 1906 for the Waucquez family who used it for a wholesale cloth business. The building displays beautifully the principles of Horta's architectural style: sunlight filters from the glass ceiling into the central hall, thereby illuminating the rest of the warehouse in a natural way. The Warehouses were restored between 1987 and 1989.

One of the most typical new art forms for Belgium are comic strips. After World War II, most of the Belgians have grown up with Belgian comic strips. One can say that there used to be two schools : the French-language comics ( =Bandes Dessinés) and the Flemish ones (stripverhalen).
Of the former, the name HERGE stands out as the most important writer. He is the father of the best known Belgian comic strip: TINTIN.

Willy VANDERSTEEN is the most known name of the Flemish school. His most important creation is SUSKE AND WISKE (in English known as Willy and Wanda). Since the 1950's, however, the entire comic strips scene has boomed in Belgium.

This beautiful museum illustrates this "9th art" in Belgium, with sets of enlarged drawings, three-dimensional recreations, etc. One can also learn everything about the birth and the development of a comic strip album. The museum also has a nice shop with albums and gadgets of the different Belgian comic strip heroes.

Location
Zandstraat / Rue des Sables, 20
1000 Brussels

Opening hours
From 10am to 6pm

Admission
Adults : 6,20 € (Euro) per person.