WALKING TOUR OF BRUSSELS COMIC STRIP ROUTE, MOOF & COMIC STRIP MUSEUMS
Brussels and Comics go hand in hand. I felt it when I visited Brussels for the first ever time, as a daytrip from London. The tourist office was filled with Smurfs memorabilia. I've been wanting to do this Comic Strip Walk for ages. Somehow it never worked out. Recently I decided to split the map into 3 sections (Midi, Central & Laeken) and went on 3 shorter walks. Also on 2 other days, I headed to the Comic Strip Museum and Museum of Original Figurines (MOOF) also dedicated to Comics, over a few months!!! Most definitely this is one of the top things to do in Brussels with kids.
Also Read: Top 10 Playgrounds in Brussels
BELGIAN COMIC STRIP CENTER
My first stop was Comic Strip Museum, one of the important Brussels Museums. Well, I headed here on one fine weekday morning, but what I had forgotten was that it was August and there was a relatively long queue at the ticket counter, something that I absolutely didn't expect. Anyways, we did get in soon. The museum is dedicated to comic strips from its history, and from time to time various temporary exhibitions happen here dedicated to various comic strip artists. 
GEORGES REMI's TINTIN
Ofcourse a major section of the museum is dedicated to Belgian comics of Tintin, the son of the soil. Did you know, Tintin was created by the Belgian comic artist, Georges Remi aka Hergé! His comics were very futuristic and had a generous use of science & technology. One of his popular Adventures of Tintin is Explorers on the Moon where Tintin goes to the moon on the iconic red & white checkered rocket! So, yeah, as soon as you enter the museum, the first thing is the humongous model of this very rocket!There are several of his strips blown up and printed, but ofcourse in the original, local language - French! But that didn't matter because Atyudarini was way too fascinated to be bothered about 'not able to read'!
SMURFS
PARCOURS BD (BANDE DESSINÉE) NEAR CENTRAL
Our next tour was to the murals in Central area where the huge Smurfs ceiling is located. I've seen it several times, but anyways I went there again, so I can take a 360° photosphere of it. Here it is! From there we followed the map, and hopped from one mural to another including Tintin & Captain Haddock near Mannekin Pis, Yoko Tsono in Space, Thorgal etc. 
PARCOURS BD (BANDE DESSINÉE) NEAR MIDI
Our next tour was to the murals near Midi. There are 2 Tintin comics associated with trains, inside Gare du Midi. We then went about to see the rest incl. La patrouille des Castors, Boule et Bill, Le Chat etc.
MUSEUM OF ORIGINAL FIGURINES (MoOF)
After all these, we also headed to Museum of Original Figurines (MoOF) whose specialty is the limited edition figurines of comic characters over the last century!!! It began with several of Asterix and Obelix as well as Tintin. There was even chess boards with these characters as pieces! There were some Tintin figurines which were one of as few as 18-20 limited editions!Further ahead was a space of Marvel superheroes. Then was an actual play area with age old nintendo, gameboy and more. I did play for sometime, I was way too fascinated by them.... Haha...
BRUSSELS WALKING TOUR OF COMIC STRIP ROUTE
Ideally in 1 day, it is possible to cover both museums and one area (central or midi or laeken) of comic art murals (parcours bd) OR 1 museum and 2 areas of comic art murals.
HOW TO REACH COMIC MUSEUMS IN BRUSSELS
On Google Maps - Comic Strip Centre, MoOF Museum, Comic Strip Route
Brussels Walking Tour of Comic Strip Route - Here's a detailed map with photo of the murals & explanation if the official site of Visit Brussels.
ENTRY TICKETS & TIMINGS
Comic Strip Route: Free; Open 24x7
Comic Strip Museum tickets: €8.00
On Google Maps - Comic Strip Centre, MoOF Museum, Comic Strip Route
Brussels Walking Tour of Comic Strip Route - Here's a detailed map with photo of the murals & explanation if the official site of Visit Brussels.
ENTRY TICKETS & TIMINGS
Comic Strip Route: Free; Open 24x7
Comic Strip Museum tickets: €8.00
Comic Strip Museum hours: Everyday 10AM - 6PM
MoOF Museum tickets: €10.00
MoOF Museum tickets: €10.00
MoOF Museum hours: Tue-Sun 10AM - 6PM
Both these museums provide free entry with Brussels Card & Museumpassmusees
Both these museums provide free entry with Brussels Card & Museumpassmusees
I had no idea that Brussels had such a comic book culture! The Comic Strip Museum looks like a great place for both adults and children. It would be cool to see the Marvel figurines as well, especially if some of them are so rare as to only have 5 in existence!
ReplyDeleteI have actually been to Brussels for a day trip but didn't realize they were such a comics capital! So neat they have a museum commemorating this unique art form! I will have to check it out next time.
ReplyDeleteI used to go to Bruxelles a lot but never noticed all the murals before. I only spotted the one outside the main international train station and that was off TinTin. I always loved comic books from Belgium and grew up with TinTin and Smurfs and would love to check out this Comic Book Museum (which I think must be a new addition to the city as I cant remember crossing this place on my last visit). Now its given me a excuse to jump on a Eurostar train from london and do another day trip to check it out. (and off course, beer and chocolates).
ReplyDeleteI only saw a few of the comic strip murals by chance when I was in Brussels. I loved the city and want to return to do the walk. That chess board of comic strip figures is awesome!
ReplyDeleteOMG, too fun! Who knew comics were huge in Brussels? I get the attraction of comics. But I’m totally surprised to see how big of a hit the Smurfs are there. Crazy! I never knew the creator of TinTin was a Belgian. Love all the murals and the chessboard with comic pieces.
ReplyDeleteWow it must be so fun while going for comic strip tour in Brussels. The tourist office which was filled with Smurfs memorabilia must be so cute thing to spot here. I loved Tin Tin a lot know, and never knew that Tintin was created by the Belgian comic artist. I too agree that Tin Tin were very futuristic with lots of science & technology. That huge model of this very rocket must be interesting to see here. Everything here looks very colorful and very vibrant here. Even murals near Midi are worth looking out for.
ReplyDeleteI have always associated my limited knowledge on comics with Belgium for it created the very famous Tintin.. I would ideally take a tour to the cartoon paradise of Europe defnitely on my next visit .
ReplyDeleteOMG.....smurfs...and so many of them! As you might have guessed, they are my favorites. This must be the only place where a smurf is bigger than me ..ha ha ! I loved reading through this post. And even your pictures. The walk along the strips made me envy you right now. The chessboard and those pieces are quite quirky and the ceiling art - now that is one ceiling I would not mind in my own room ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat honestly looks like it would be so much fun for either a kid or an adult! I haven't been to Brussels in a very long time, but next time I go back, I'd love to have this on my radar!
ReplyDeleteWow you spotted a good number of cartoon strips. I couldn't spot as many there. Time crunch! :( Museum of Original Figurines is so interesting. I wish I had visited it with my kids. Uteruses! may be you are right about them!
ReplyDeleteI haven't been in Brussels for more than 20 years, but it is time for me to go back and visit my childhood heroes: the Smurfs and Lucky Luke. Whenever I see smurfs I automatically think of the smurf song, which will probably stay in my head all night long. Thank you for bringing back such wonderful memories and making me plan a visit to Brussels.
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