The Belgian Center For Comic Strips

The visit to this museum is a must for two reasons. First of all, the museum is situated in the beautiful Art Nouveau setting of the Waucquez Warehouses. Secondly, one can see here the history of a very typical art form in Belgium: the comic strip. 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..
An art nouveau building houses the world’s first Comic Strip Museum which exhibits over 400 original Tintin plates created by Hergé, as well as 25, 000 other cartoon works. The Waucquez warehouses are considered to be one of the masterpieces of the 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 illustrates the principles of Horta’s architectural style: sunlight filters from the glass ceiling into the central hall, lighting the rest of the warehouse in a natural way. One of the most popular new art forms for Belgium is the comic strip. Since World War II, most Belgians have grown up with Belgian comic strips. Herge stands out as the most important writer He is the father of the best known Belgian comic strip: Tintin. Tintin has been delighting children since 1929, when he began his adventures as a boy reporter traveling the world and setting wrongs to right. Tintin’s adventures became one of the greatest early examples of the European strip cartoon. Willy Vandersteen is the best 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 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 series. The Museum also has a shop with albums and memorabilia of the different Belgian comic strip heroes.
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).
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