Brussels: Comic Strip Trail & Canal Heritage

From the temple of the Ninth Art and revolutionary martyrs to industrial canals and the cradle of the Senne

Brussels · 11 stops · 29 min audio · Generated October 2026

1. 1. Colonne du Congrès: Monument to Belgian Liberty

   Place du Congrès 1, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

   Gaze up at the monumental fluted Doric column of the Colonne du Congrès, soaring forty-seven meters above the terrace overlooking the lower city. Erected between eighteen fifty and eighteen fifty-nine to the designs of architect Joseph Poelaert, this triumphal monument celebrates the National Congress of eighteen thirty, which drafted the progressive Belgian Constitution following the revolution against Dutch rule. The monument was modeled after Trajan's Column in Rome, though Poelaert chose a simpler Doric order executed in crisp blue limestone quarried from the Meuse Valley.

   The summit of the column is crowned by a colossal five-meter bronze statue of King Leopold the First, Belgium's first monarch, sculpted by Guillaume Geefs. Around the granite pedestal sit four seated bronze allegorical statues representing the constitutional freedoms won by the revolutionaries: freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and freedom of education.

   At the foot of the column burns the eternal flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, inaugurated in nineteen twenty-two following the horrors of the First World War. Beneath a simple black granite slab rests an unidentified Belgian soldier who fell on the battlefields of Flanders, flanked by two monumental bronze lions guarding the memory of all fallen national defenders. The cornerstone was laid on Belgium's twenty-first anniversary of independence in eighteen fifty, in the presence of Prince Leopold, the future King Leopold the Second, amidst thunderous cannon salutes and military parades.

   From this elevated terrace, look out across the urban valley of Brussels toward the rooftops of the lower town. You are standing on the geological escarpment that historically separated the aristocratic government quarter from the crowded artisan neighborhoods that gave birth to Belgium's rich comic book culture. Beneath the viewing balustrade, the monumental Congress Esplanade slopes downward via curving ramps that were once illuminated by hundreds of ornate nineteenth-century gas lanterns.

   Walk down the steps of Rue des Sables, heading westward into the historic publishing quarter toward the glazed iron portals of the Belgian Comic Strip Center.

2. 2. Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée: Temple of the Ninth Art

   Rue des Sables 20, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

   Step beneath the curving glass canopy of the former Magasins Waucquez, a textile department store designed in nineteen oh six by master architect Victor Horta. Here, Art Nouveau industrial architecture marries Belgium's greatest modern cultural export: the comic strip, officially celebrated across the francophone world as the Ninth Art. Horta designed the building with soaring glass lightwells and exposed riveted iron trusses, creating a bright and airy cathedral of commerce that proved ideal for displaying delicate illustrated panels.

   In the mid-twentieth century, Belgium became the undisputed world capital of comic books, driven by two legendary publishing studios in Brussels and Marcinelle. Hergé pioneered the crisp, elegant ligne claire style in The Adventures of Tintin, while André Franquin revolutionized dynamic comic action with Spirou, Marsupilami, and the famously lazy office hero Gaston Lagaffe. The Ninth Art in Belgium transcended entertainment to become a profound social commentary: Hergé reflected geopolitical conflicts and scientific ambition, while Franquin used humor to satirize corporate bureaucracy and militarism.

   Look around the luminous entrance hall, where a life-sized red-and-white checkered moon rocket from Tintin's Explorers on the Moon stands beneath Horta's original wrought-iron skylight and curved stone staircases. Nearby sits an authentic red Citroën 2CV from comic adventures, surrounded by rotating original manuscript pages, pencil sketches, and inked plates by Belgium's master cartoonists. The permanent collection also honors Peyo, creator of the Smurfs, and Morris, creator of the lonesome cowboy Lucky Luke, who shoots faster than his own shadow across the Wild West.

   By the nineteen seventies, this magnificent Horta warehouse had fallen into complete disrepair and was slated for demolition. A passionate coalition of comic artists, heritage architects, and Hergé himself campaigned to save the structure, meticulously restoring Horta's iron columns to house this cultural shrine, which opened in nineteen eighty-nine.

   Walk out into Rue des Sables, follow Rue du Fossé aux Loups westward, and cross into the serene neoclassical quadrangle of Place des Martyrs.

3. 3. Place des Martyrs: The Crypt of Independence

   Place des Martyrs 1, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

   Step onto the quiet, symmetrical cobblestones of Place des Martyrs, an oasis of classical order framed by uniform white neoclassical townhouses with green wooden shutters. Designed in seventeen seventy-five by court architect Claude Fisco, this square was originally named Place Saint-Michel to honor the city's celestial protector. The square was originally paved with smooth cobblestones and planted with four rows of linden trees, providing a harmonious residential haven for magistrates and noble families during the Austrian Habsburg administration.

   The destiny of the square was violently rewritten in September eighteen thirty, during the bloody street fighting of the Belgian Revolution. Citizen militias, students, and workers barricaded the streets against Dutch royal troops; during four days of urban combat, four hundred and sixty-six Belgian freedom fighters fell in battle across Brussels. The fighting in September eighteen thirty reached its climax around the nearby Royal Park, where ordinary citizens armed with hunting rifles, pikes, and antique muskets drove the Dutch garrison out of the city.

   The revolutionary provisional government chose this square as a solemn national pantheon, burying the fallen martyrs in an underground vaulted crypt directly beneath the center of the plaza. In eighteen thirty-eight, a monumental marble memorial by sculptor Guillaume Geefs was erected above the crypt, depicting a crowned figure of Liberty surrounded by a recording angel and the Belgian lion.

   Descend the stone staircase into the subterranean crypt, where marble tablets carved with the names of the revolutionary dead line the silent gallery. The martyrs included doctors, weavers, teenagers, and foreign volunteers who gave their lives to establish Belgium as a sovereign constitutional democracy. Standing in this quiet sunken neoclassical square, you can feel the heavy solemnity of a young nation's founding sacrifice, preserved in stone amidst the bustling commercial center of modern Brussels.

   Leave the square through the western archway onto Rue Neuve, Brussels' premier shopping thoroughfare, and enter the glass-vaulted arcade of Passage du Nord.

4. 4. Passage du Nord & Place De Brouckère: Belle Époque Splendor

   Rue Neuve 40, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

   Step beneath the sculpted caryatids into the dazzling light of Passage du Nord, a glass-roofed shopping gallery built in eighteen eighty-two to link Rue Neuve with Boulevard Adolphe Max. Designed by architect Henri Rieck, this seventy-meter arcade is an exuberant jewel of the Belle Époque, lined with thirty-two allegorical statues representing maritime trade, industry, and the fine arts.

   Look up at the first-floor balconies, where graceful stone caryatids and iron corbels support a vaulted glass roof that floods the marble floor with natural daylight. In the late nineteenth century, the gallery housed high-end opticians, perfumers, and the famous Musée Castan, a sensational waxwork and curiosity cabinet that delighted bourgeois promenaders. The arcade's marble floor features intricate geometric mosaic borders, while the shopfronts retain their original curved mahogany frames, brass latches, and beveled mirror panels.

   Emerge from the western portal onto Place De Brouckère, once celebrated as the Times Square of Brussels. Named after popular mayor Jules De Brouckère, this grand urban junction was famous for its glowing neon advertisements, cinematic theaters, and opulent cafes where French chansonnier Jacques Brel famously sang about the intoxicating nightlife of Brussels. Rieck designed the passage with dual neoclassical facades that harmonized with the surrounding monumental boulevards created during the major urban sanitation works led by Mayor Jules Anspach.

   Anchoring the square stands the monumental Hôtel Métropole, inaugurated in eighteen ninety-four. Inside its palatial dining rooms, the legendary Solvay Conferences on Physics were held in nineteen eleven, bringing together Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Max Planck, and Ernest Rutherford to unlock the secrets of quantum physics over coffee. At Café Métropole next door, Belgian intellectuals, visiting foreign dignitaries, and surrealist artists gathered to debate literature and politics over glasses of Trappist ale and cloudy absinthe.

   Walk northwest along Rue de l'Évêque and turn into Rue des Augustins toward the striking Baroque facade of Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste au Béguinage.

5. 5. Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste au Béguinage: The Baroque Marvel

   Place du Béguinage 1, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

   Pause on Place du Béguinage before the soaring, triple-gabled stone facade of Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste au Béguinage. Constructed between sixteen fifty-seven and sixteen seventy-six to designs attributed to master architect Luc Fayd'herbe, this sanctuary is universally recognized as the most exuberant and harmonious Italianate Baroque church facade in Brussels. The church's striking facade combines classical Corinthian pilasters on the lower level with playful Baroque scrollwork, niche statues, and triangular pediments on the upper tiers, creating a visual symphony in pale sandstone.

   The church was the spiritual anchor of the Grand Béguinage of Brussels, founded around twelve fifty outside the city walls. At its height in the seventeenth century, this autonomous religious village was home to over one thousand pious Beguines, living in peaceful white cottages with private gardens, weaving fine Brussels lace and tending to the sick. The Grand Béguinage formed a self-contained city within a city, surrounded by a high defensive wall and a branch of the Senne River, with its own brewery, bakery, infirmary, and communal washing meadows.

   Look closely at the undulating facade, where classical pediments, broken volutes, stone garland festoons, and cherub heads create a dynamic sculptural rhythm reminiscent of the Roman Baroque. Inside, the vast three-aisled nave is illuminated by brilliant white limestone, adorned with magnificent seventeenth-century paintings by Flemish master Theodor van Loon depicting the life of Saint John the Baptist. Van Loon's paintings inside the church reflect the dramatic chiaroscuro and deep emotional intensity of the Roman school, depicting biblical narratives with startlingly realistic figures and sumptuous drapery.

   Following the French Revolution, the surrounding Béguinage cottages were confiscated and gradually demolished during the nineteenth century to make way for modern hospices and avenues. Miraculously, this grand church survived intact, standing as a solitary monumental reminder of Brussels' vanished community of pious women.

   Walk south along Rue du Cypre and turn right onto Rue du Marché aux Porcs to discover the medieval stone masonry of the Tour Noire.

6. 6. Tour Noire: The Medieval Rampart Bastion

   Place Sainte-Catherine 29, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

   Gaze upon the weathered, soot-darkened limestone masonry of the Tour Noire, or Black Tower, standing in surreal contrast against the glass-and-brick facade of a modern hotel. Erected in the early thirteenth century as part of the first defensive city wall of Brussels, this sturdy semi-circular bastion has stood here for more than eight hundred years. The tower's circular exterior wall is over two meters thick at the base, built of rough-hewn fieldstone and sandstone rubble bound with lime mortar that has hardened like concrete over eight centuries.

   The first wall of Brussels was constructed between twelve hundred and twelve thirty under Henry the First, Duke of Brabant. Stretching four kilometers in circumference with forty round watchtowers and seven fortified gates, the stone rampart enclosed the early settlement, protecting the port basin and ducal residence from marauding feudal armies. The rampart wall that connected this tower to neighboring watchtowers stood roughly eight meters high, crowned by a wooden sentry parapet where crossbowmen stood watch against raiding feudal knights.

   By the sixteenth century, the original wall was obsolete, replaced by a much larger second outer ring. The Black Tower survived by being converted into a private grain storage depot, a tavern, and later an eccentric private townhouse where a local eccentric lived among ivy-covered battlements.

   In eighteen eighty-eight, when city planners were demolishing old alleyways to construct modern streets, the tower was slated for demolition. Outraged citizens and heritage activists, led by Mayor Charles Buls, staged a passionate campaign to save the medieval relic, successfully restoring its crenellations and integrating it into the urban landscape you see today. Today, the tower stands as an inspiring symbol of historic preservation in Brussels, proving that ancient medieval heritage can coexist dramatically with contemporary twentieth-century commercial architecture.

   Walk west along Rue Sainte-Catherine, cross Rue de Flandre, and slip down the alleyway at number forty-six to discover the hidden courtyard of La Bellone.

7. 7. La Bellone: The Hidden Baroque Courtyard

   Rue de Flandre 46, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

   Pass through the unassuming doorway off Rue de Flandre and step into an astounding secret world: a historic courtyard sheltered beneath a soaring modern glass roof, dominated by the theatrical Baroque facade of La Bellone. Built in sixteen ninety-seven, this mansion was designed by celebrated Flemish sculptor and architect Jean Cosyn, one of the master builders who reconstructed the Grand-Place. The doorway opens off an ordinary residential street, giving no hint of the palatial seventeenth-century aristocratic pavilion hidden behind the street-front facades.

   The mansion takes its name from the sculpted stone bust of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, crowning the central pediment above the entrance. Cosyn designed the facade to commemorate the historic victory of the Holy Roman Empire and allied forces over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Zenta in sixteen ninety-seven. Cosyn was a brilliant Renaissance man who combined classical humanistic education with practical stonemasonry; his work on the Grand-Place guildhalls, including the House of the King of Spain, earned him lasting fame.

   Inspect the rich stone carvings adorning the windows: stone cannon barrels, Roman battle standards, laurel wreaths, and helmets mingle with delicate floral garlands, celebrating military triumph with theatrical Baroque exuberance. Beneath the goddess Bellona sits an allegorical relief of Time holding an hourglass, warning mortals of the transience of earthly power. The central courtyard was originally open to the sky, serving as an intimate urban garden where noble guests gathered for chamber music recitals and poetry readings by candlelight.

   In the nineteen nineties, the City of Brussels enclosed the open courtyard beneath an innovative glass membrane designed by architect Olivier Noterman, creating a climate-controlled cultural center dedicated to the performing arts, theatre archives, and contemporary scenography while protecting Cosyn's delicate seventeenth-century stone carvings from acid rain.

   Return to Rue de Flandre, walk northwest to the canal bridge at Porte de Flandre, and gaze across the waters of the historic Charleroi Canal.

8. 8. Porte de Flandre: The Industrial Canal Gateway

   Rue de Flandre 180, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

   Stand upon the bridge at the Porte de Flandre and watch the dark waters of the Brussels-Charleroi Canal stretch toward the horizon. For centuries, this point was anchored by a massive medieval gatehouse that defended the road toward Ghent and Flanders. In the nineteenth century, the ramparts were replaced by this industrial waterway, transforming Brussels into the manufacturing engine of continental Europe. The surrounding quays were paved with durable Belgian porphyry cobbles, capable of withstanding the grinding wheels of heavy horse-drawn drays laden with machinery, grain, and iron ingots.

   Inaugurated in eighteen thirty-two, the Charleroi Canal was an engineering marvel that connected the coal basins of Wallonia directly to the factories and port docks of Brussels. Heavy barges hauled millions of tons of 'black gold' to power textile mills, metal foundries, and breweries, earning the surrounding canal district the nickname 'the Belgian Manchester'. The canal network also spurred the creation of iconic Belgian working-class foods: factory workers bought steaming cones of frites fried in beef tallow from roadside carts and washed them down with sour brown table beers.

   The neighborhood of Molenbeek across the water was home to tens of thousands of Flemish weavers and international industrial workers. Working-class culture flourished along these quays, with labor unions, socialist cooperative bakeries, and lively dance halls where concertinas played late into the night.

   Today, the historic industrial docks are undergoing an extraordinary cultural renaissance. Former flour mills, beer breweries, and customs warehouses have been transformed into artist studios, contemporary art centers, and technology hubs, with the canal now serving as a creative spine uniting the diverse communities of Brussels. As you gaze along the water toward the modern drawbridge, you can appreciate how the canal transformed Brussels from a landlocked medieval provincial capital into a major commercial inland port.

   Walk south along the quayside path of Quai du Hainaut toward the red-brick industrial towers of the former Belle-Vue brewery.

9. 9. Quai du Hainaut & MIMA: The Cultural Renaissance of the Canal

   Quai du Hainaut 39, 1080 Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Belgium

   Pause along Quai du Hainaut before the imposing red-brick facade and soaring industrial chimneys of the former Belle-Vue brewery complex. Founded in nineteen thirteen by brewing pioneer Philémon Vandenstock, this sprawling brewery was once the largest producer of traditional Brussels gueuze and kriek lambic beer in the world, exporting bottled sour ales across the globe. The massive red-brick brewhouses and copper grain silos dominated the skyline of western Brussels, while fleets of wooden horse-drawn wagons delivered barrels of beer daily to cafes across the capital.

   Lambic brewing is unique to the Senne Valley: instead of using cultivated brewer's yeast, warm wort is exposed to the ambient night air, allowing wild airborne yeasts like Brettanomyces bruxellensis to trigger spontaneous fermentation. The beer was then aged for years in giant oak casks along these very canal basements. Gueuze lambic is famously referred to as the Champagne of Brussels, blending young and old lambics that undergo a secondary fermentation inside thick glass champagne bottles sealed with cork and wire cages.

   In twenty sixteen, the abandoned brewery reopened as the Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art, or MIMA, alongside creative startup hubs and a hotel. The museum celebrates cutting-edge visual subcultures, from street graffiti and skateboard graphics to digital installation art, turning industrial brewing heritage into a beacon of contemporary artistic dialogue.

   Cross the Passerelle Comte de Flandre, the slender pedestrian footbridge spanning the canal. Look along the concrete embankments to spot vibrant murals and aerosol graffiti created by international street artists, turning the canal into an evolving open-air gallery that bridges Molenbeek with downtown Brussels. MIMA's rotating exhibitions have transformed this formerly neglected industrial canal zone into one of the most dynamic cultural destinations in Europe, drawing thousands of young international visitors every weekend.

   Walk eastward along Rue Sainte-Catherine and turn onto Rue du Rempart des Moines to stand before the giant comic strip mural of Gaston Lagaffe.

10. 10. Fresque Gaston Lagaffe: The Spirit of Franquin

    Rue du Rempart des Moines 10, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

    Look up at the towering gable wall at the corner of Rue du Rempart des Moines and Rue de la Senne, where a colossal two-story comic mural bursts with color and slapstick humor. Here sits Gaston Lagaffe, the famously idle, accident-prone office boy created in nineteen fifty-seven by genius Belgian cartoonist André Franquin for Spirou magazine. Franquin's loose, energetic pen lines and masterly sense of comic timing are faithfully enlarged across the brick wall, capturing every nuance of his chaotic graphic style.

    Gaston is depicted in his signature oversized green turtleneck sweater, worn-out espadrilles, and disheveled hair, relaxing in an ingenious, chaotic motorized contraption made from junk, while his pet cat and laughing gull look on with mischievous delight. Gaston's motto, 'M'enfin?!', meaning 'Well, really?!', remains a universal catchphrase of affectionate exasperation across Belgium. Franquin created Gaston originally as a minor filler character to occupy blank margins in Spirou magazine, but the anti-hero proved so wildly popular with readers that he was quickly given his own full-page series.

    This vibrant mural is part of the Brussels Comic Book Route, or Parcours BD, an imaginative municipal initiative launched in nineteen ninety-one to celebrate Belgium's graphic art heritage while revitalizing weathered urban gable walls. Today, more than sixty giant painted comic murals transform the streets of Brussels into an open-air museum.

    Notice the street name beneath the mural: Rue de la Senne. Beneath the asphalt here ran one of the original waterways of the Senne River, which was vaulted and buried underground in the eighteen seventies to eliminate cholera. The comic trail deliberately brings vibrant life and color back to the ancient working-class streets that were once watercourses. The Brussels comic mural trail now spans over sixty individual painted facades, forming the longest and most famous open-air comic art itinerary in the world.

    Walk east along Rue des Riches Claires, cross Boulevard Anspach, and enter the lively terrace square of the Halles Saint-Géry.

11. 11. Halles Saint-Géry: The Island Cradle of Brussels

    Place Saint-Géry 1, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

    Step into the lively, cobblestone plaza of Place Saint-Géry and admire the red-brick and cast-iron architecture of the Halles Saint-Géry, erected in eighteen eighty-one as a covered meat and poultry market. You are standing on the most historic spot in the city: Saint-Géry Island, the ancient marshy island in the Senne River where Brussels was originally founded over a thousand years ago.

    In nine seventy-nine, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, built a wooden fortress and chapel dedicated to Saint Gaugericus on this small island surrounded by the braided channels of the Senne. The settlement was named Bruocsella, derived from Old Dutch words meaning 'settlement in the marsh', marking the official birth of Brussels. The name Saint-Géry honors Gaugericus, the seventh-century bishop of Cambrai who founded a small oratory on this island in the marsh to convert the local river fishermen.

    Step inside the glass-roofed market hall, now a vibrant cultural exhibition space and cafe. In the center stands an extraordinary heritage relic: a monumental pyramid-shaped fountain carved from blue Soignies limestone, originally sculpted in seventeen sixty-seven by sculptor Jacques Bergé for the Abbey of Grimbergen and re-erected here as a drinking water source for market traders. The building's iron-framed skylights, polychrome brick arcades, and neo-Renaissance corner pavilions reflect the peak of nineteenth-century Belgian civic market architecture.

    Look down through the glass panels set into the floor to see water trickling through an exposed canal culvert. It preserves a physical section of the Senne River, the lost waterway that gave Brussels life for nine centuries before it was completely enclosed beneath underground tunnels during the nineteenth-century hygiene modernization. Today, the surrounding pedestrian square is lined with bustling sidewalk terraces, artisanal cocktail bars, and music lounges where the energetic multicultural spirit of modern Brussels comes alive every evening.

    Pull up a chair at a terrace cafe on the square, order a refreshing glass of Brussels wheat beer or a cherry kriek lambic, and celebrate the rich comic creativity, working-class humor, and thousand-year island origins you have explored across Brussels today.