Belgian Comic Strip Center
| Centre belge de la Bande dessinée/Belgisch Stripcentrum | |
 Location within Brussels
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| Established | October 6, 1989 |
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| Location | Rue des Sables/Zandstraat 20 B-1000 Brussels |
| Coordinates | 50°51′04″N 4°21′36″E / 50.851111°N 4.36°E |
| Type | History of Belgian comics |
| Visitors | More than 200,000 per year |
| Public transit access | Brussels-Central |
| Website | www |
The Belgian Comic Strip Center (French: Centre belge de la Bande dessinée, Dutch: Belgisch Stripcentrum) is a museum in Brussels, located in the Rue des Sables /Zandstraat 20, dedicated to Belgian comics.
The building was designed in 1905 by world-famous architect Victor Horta in Art Nouveau style and served as 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 aid of Horta, saved the building from demolition and by October 16, 1975 it was acknowledged as a protected monument. Still, the building was in bad shape and victim of a lot of vandalism.
In 1980 architect Jean Breydel and 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 himself suggested honoring 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 united several Flemish and Walloon comics artists. Two years later the restorations began, with respect for the original architecture while updating it to modern standards. The mosaic was flown over from Italy and constructed by Italian mosaic workers, because the profession had become obsolete in Belgium.
On October 6, 1989 the museum was inaugurated in the presence of king Baudouin of Belgium and queen Fabiola of Belgium.
In the fall of 2015 the museum started redecorating its permanent exhibition.
On the ground floor of the museum a restaurant can be found, a room dedicated to Victor Horta, a comics' store named "Slumberland" after Little Nemo in Slumberland, a library with a reading room and study center. The first floor has an auditorium, a room with original comic book pages by various artists and a room dedicated to animation, more specifically the Belgian animation industry, such as Belvision.
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Wikipedia