Even if you have never been particularly interested in history, it is not a secret Belgium is a country with long and interesting history. There are several particularly curious facts about its history which you might would like to know. This short article will highlight some of these facts. It will be really better to read this article before you actually go to Belgium since you might be willing to visit some of the places related to the history described in this article.
Belgium functioning without government
This historical fact is not essential only for Belgium itself but also for the entire world since Belgium has the longest official period of functioning without any official government. You might think this fact comes from some distant history of the country, however, it happened not so long ago, only a bit more than ten years ago. This means that Belgium was operating as the house of the European parliament when there was no elected home government.
The whole period of functioning without any government lasted for 589 days during some serious arguments between two opposing parties of the country which were Walloon and Flemish.
The Belgian comic creators
The youngest generations of people are more acquainted with the comics art offered by such giants as DC and Marvel as well as various Japanese productions, however, there is a lot of significant works created by European authors and artists and a great deal of them are coming from Belgium. Somehow, this country has been a home to many prominent comics creators.
Some of the most well-known characters created by the Belgium comics writers and artists are Asterix, Tintin, Thorgal, Fantasio, Gaston as well as Blake and Mortimer.
Visiting Belgium and especially Brussels is a perfect opportunity for exploration of the comics art and you will have a lot of chances to do it. Of course, the capital of Belgium has its own museum dedicated to the comics art and it has not only the historical exhibitions but also the galleries of modern comics art where many foreign creators are showing their works to the publicity.
Another amazing option you might use for discovering the Belgian art of comics is by having a walk through the Brussels Comics Route which will take you around the streets which have giant wall art dedicated to comics on the walls of their houses.
Brussels and The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manisfesto is one of the most significant works of humans and while some people are happy about this fact, others would prefer it have never been created. In any way, the author of The Communist Manifesto is Karl Marx who created it in the cooperation with Engels. Karl Marx himself was German and this fact is well-known, however, many people are unaware of the place where he actually worked on his manifesto.
In fact, the world-known philosopher spent the years between 1845 and 1847 in Brussels where he actually worked on Manifesto. His favourite place for work was the Le Cygne restaurant which is still functioning in the Grand-Place of Brussels. You will even find the memorial on the wall of the restaurant dedicated to Karl Marx. Do not miss an opportunity of making a photo in that memorable place while you are in Brussels.
The World Wide Web and Belgium
Everyone who is interested in technology knows the fact Switzerland played a huge role in the development of the World Wide Web as it was created by Tim Berners-Lee in CERN in that country.
Yet, many people do not know that his work was heavily supported by another specialist who is Robert Cailliau. In fact, this person is a real co-inventor of the Internet. Now, the most important fact for us comes. Robert Cailliau is a Belgian.
Audrey Hepburn
One of the most outstanding actresses of all of the time and certainly one of the most beautiful women of the world of cinematography was born in Brussels. Actually, it is not easy to distinguish the real cultural identity of Audrey Hepburn since the most of her work took place in the USA whereas she was officially the resident of Great Britain, she was born in the capital of Belgium.
By the way, Audrey Hepburn was as multicultural and multilingual as the country of her birth. In fact, Audrey Hepburn spoke six languages!
it is surprising that belgium functioned for as many as 589 days without a government!