Culture

Maroesjka Lavigne wins a prize in the Sony World Photography Awards

22 April 2016

Maroesjka Lavigne was awarded first prize in the category professional landscape photography in the Sony World Photography Awards.

Brussels, the capital of contemporary art

21 April 2016

According to the American travel magazine Travel + Leisure, today our capital can easily compete with London, Paris, Berlin and New York.

La Monnaie wins awards in Italy

15 April 2016

On 15 April the Italian Associazione Nazionale Critici Musicali awarded its Franco Abbiati Awards again.

Museum of Fine Arts in top 100

07 April 2016

With 767,355 visitors in 2015, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (KMSKB) are in the top 100 of most visited art museums in the world.

Bastogne War Museum commended by TripAdvisor

06 April 2016

The Bastogne War Museum, which opened in March 2014, welcomed its 300,000th visitor in February 2016.

A country of legends and thrills

The constant contact with other peoples and cultures hasn't been without its effects in terms of art and culture, both in the past and the present day. A true crossroads of the major influences of art, Belgium has always been home to a large number of artists and frequently establishes itself as the place for innovation for new movements.

Belgium has preserved much evidence of the greatest architectural and artistic movements. The Middle Ages saw cathedrals and belfries spring up, monuments that still grace the Belgian cities of art. Countless châteaux pepper the countryside and Belgium is the country with the most châteaux per km². As for Brussels, in the 20th century, it became the capital of Art Nouveau. All this explains the country's incredible architectural wealth.

The splendid works of the old Flemish painters such as Peter Paul Rubens, Pieter Bruegel, Jan Van Eyck, Antoine Van Dyck, along with more recent artists like Paul Delvaux or René Magritte, are now exhibited in museums all over the world.

The ultimate hub for comics, Belgium is home to the largest concentration of comic book authors in the world. They continue the tradition of Hergé (Tintin), Peyo (Les Schtroumpfs), Edgar P. Jacobs (Blake et Mortimer), Morris (Lucky Luke), Bob De Moor (Barelli, Cori de scheepsjongen), Willy Vandersteen (Suske en Wiske) and many more!

Today, many Belgian talents are making a name for themselves. This is particularly the case on the international music scene with Angèle, Milow, Selah Sue and Hooverphonic. On the big screen, a new generation of directors and actors are frequently recognised with awards including the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Oscars in Hollywood.

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