Brussels' Comic Book Route
Brussels' Comic Book Route is a path composed by several comic strip murals, which cover the walls of several buildings throughout the inner City of Brussels, as well as the neighborhoods of Laeken and Auderghem. The large comic strip murals depict scenes from various popular Belgian comics, for instance The Adventures of Tintin, The Smurfs, Lucky Luke, Gaston, Marsupilami and Gil Jourdan.
The project began in 1991 as an initiative of the local authorities of the City of Brussels in collaboration with the Belgian Comic Strip Center. Initially, the project only intended to embellish empty walls and gables of buildings in the city. It then became an opportunity to celebrate the rich comic book heritage of Brussels, which claims to be the capital of the "comic strip".
Today, the Brussels' Comic Book Route offers more than 50 mural paintings, most of them located inside the Pentagon. Following its trail, the Comic Book Route is a good way to discover the capital and even penetrate some neighborhoods less crowded by tourists. The Brussels tourist association organizes a 2-hour bike tour starting at the Bicycle Riders House.
Broussaille was the first comic book wall to be painted, based on an original project of the Belgian comic book artist Frank Pé. With its surface of about, the mural painting was inaugurated in July 1991 at the intersection between the central streets Rue du Marché au Charbon/Kolenmarkt and Rue des Teinturiers/Verversstraat. As with most of the mural paintings, the Belgian association Art Mural was in charge of the execution of the fresco painting.
Art Mural is an association created by five artists in 1984, mainly aimed to realise mural painting in public areas. Since 1993, it has been devoted to the creation and realisation of new murals for Brussels' Comic Book Route, with a rhythm of two to three new works per year. Georgios Oreopoulos and David Vandegeerde are the only two remaining founder members of the association, having been involved in all the projects and mural paintings, helped with a large number of other artists who have collaborated and worked together with them.
List of comic strip mural paintings
In the centre of Brussels
N° | Mural painting | Author | Date | Realisation | Location | Surface |
1 | :fr:Victor_Sackville|Victor Sackville | Francis Carin | August 2002 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Marché au Charbon / Rue des Teinturiers | ± 50 m² |
2 | :fr:Broussaille_|Broussaille | Frank Pé | September 1999 | Mangnay J.-Y. Oreopoulos G. Pieterhons R. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Marché au Charbon 39 / Rue des Teinturiers | ± 45 m² |
3 | Le Passage | François Schuiten | July 1995 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Marché au Charbon 17 | ±20 m² |
4 | Ric Hochet | Tibet | November 1994 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Bon Secours 9 | ±30 m² |
5 | The Adventures of Tintin | Hergé | July 2005 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | 33 | ± 36 m² |
6 | :fr:Olivier_Rameau|Olivier Rameau | Dany | June 1997 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Chêne 9 | ±60 m² |
7 | Le jeune Albert | Yves Chaland | May 2000 | Mangnay J.-Y. Oreopoulos G. Pieterhons R. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Alexiens 49 | ± 110 m² |
8 | :fr:Monsieur_Jean_|Monsieur Jean | Dupuy and Berberian | November 2002 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Bogards / Rue du Midi | ± 64 m² |
9 | XIII | William Vance Jean Van Hamme | September – October 2010 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Kuleczko R. | Rue Philippe de Champagne 33 | ± 43 m² |
10 | Yoko Tsuno | Roger Leloup | June 2010 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Ardila A. Kuleczko R. Dussart G. | Rue Terre-Neuve 15 | ± 55 m² |
11 | Isabelle | Will | October 1997 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue de la Verdure 13 | ±86 m² |
12 | The Adventures of Nero | Marc Sleen | May 1995 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Place Saint-Géry 20 | ±40 m² |
13 | L'Ange | Yslaire | May 1998 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Chartreux 19 | ± 22 m² |
14 | Astérix | Goscinny and Uderzo | August 2005 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Marcelle Bordier Koen Weiss | Rue de la Buanderie 15 | ± 145 m² |
15 | Lucky Luke | Morris | June 1993 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue de la Buanderie / Rue 't Kindt | ±180 m² |
16 | Cori, de Scheepsjongen | Bob de Moor | September 1998 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Fabriques 21 | ± 48 m² |
17 | :fr:Nic_|Les rêves de Nic | Hermann Huppen | October 1999 | Mangnay J.-Y. Oreopoulos G. Pieterhons R. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Fabriques / Rue de la Senne | ± 160 m² |
18 | Caroline Baldwin | André Taymans and Bruno Wesel | July 2003 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Place de Ninove 10 | ±150 m² |
19 | Blake and Mortimer | Edgar P. Jacobs | May–June 2005 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Houblon 24 | ±104 m² |
20 | Cubitus | Dupa | October 1994 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue de Flandre 109 | ±35 m² |
21 | Billy the cat | Stéphane Colman and Stephen Desberg | July 2000 | Mangnay J.-Y. Oreopoulos G. Pieterhons R. Vandegeerde D. | Rue d'Ophem 24 | ± 50 m² |
22 | Spike and Suzy | Willy Vandersteen | June 1995 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue de Laeken 116 | ±25 m² |
23 | FC de Kampioenen | Hec Leemans | April 2011 | ART MURAL asbl. Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Ardila A. Kuleczko R. Dussart G. | Rue du Canal 27 | ±90 m² |
24 | Corto Maltese | Hugo Pratt | August - September 2009 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Ardila A. Kuleczko R. Dussart G. | Quai des péniches | ± 850 m² |
25 | La Vache | Johan De Moor | March - April 1999 | d'Hainaut E. Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Damier 23 | 32 m² |
26 | Gaston statue | André Franquin | February 1996 | Delhaize Le Lion | Boulevard Pachéco / Rue des Sables | - |
27 | Le Scorpion | Enrico Marini | May 2002 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Treurenberg 16 | ± 35 m² |
28 | Poje | Cauvin and Carpentier | Unknown | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue de l'Ecuyer 55 / Rue de dominicains | Inconnu |
29 | Gaston | André Franquin | February 2007 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue de l'Écuyer 9 | ± 39 m² |
30 | Quick & Flupke | Hergé | July 1996 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Capucins / Rue Haute 191 | ±150 m² |
31 | Odilon Verjus | Laurent Verron and Yann le Pennetier | June 2004 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Capucins 13 | ± 33 m² |
32 | Blondin et Cirage | Jijé | November 1998 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Capucins 15 | ± 32 m² |
33 | Passe-moi l'ciel | Stuf and Janry | July 2002 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Minimes 96 | ± 28 m² |
34 | Boule et Bill | Jean Roba | October 1995 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue du Chevreuil 19 | 25 m² |
35 | La Patrouille des Castors | Mitacq | April 2003 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue Blaes 200 / Rue Pieremans 47 | ± 50 m² |
36 | Jojo | André Geerts | September 1996 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue Piermans 41 | ±56 m² |
37 | Le Chat | Philippe Geluck | August 1993 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Bld du Midi 87 | ±80 m² |
38 | Heads of Tintin and Snowy | Hergé | Unknown | Lombard Editions | Avenue Paul-Henri Spaak 7 | - |
39 | Tintin in America | Hergé | January 2007 | - | Hall of the South railway station | Unknown |
40 | Signor Spaghetti | Dino Attanasio | Unknown | Unknown | Rue van Bergen 22 | Unknown |
41 | Yakari | Derib and Job | Unknown | Unknown | Rue Dethy 25 | Unknown |
42 | Spirou | Robert Velter | Unknown | Unknown | Place Sainctelette, 2 | Unknown |
43 | Thorgal & Aaricia | Jean Van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosiński | November 2013 | Grzegorz Rosinski | Place Anneessens 2a | Unknown |
In La(e)ken
N° | Mural painting | Author | Date | Realisation | Location | Surface |
1 | Titeuf | Zep | September 2006 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Weiss K. Ardila A. | Avenue Emile Bockstael 1 | ± 160 m² |
2 | Gil Jourdan | Maurice Tillieux | May 2009 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Ardila A. Kuleczko R. | Rue Léopold 1er / Rue Thys-Vanhamstraat | ± 77 m² |
3 | Natacha | François Walthéry | October 2009 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Ardila A. Kuleczko R. Dussart G. | Rue Jan Bollen 23 | ± 200 m² |
4 | Martine | Marcel Marlier and Gilbert Delahaye | October 2004 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Avenue de la Reine 325 / Rue Stéphanie | ± 180 m² |
5 | Le Roi des mouches | Mezzo | June 2007 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Pieterhons R. | Rue Hubert Stiernet 23 | ± 96 m² |
6 | Lincoln | Olivier Jouvray and Jérôme Jouvray | May 2006 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Rue des Palais outre-pont / Rue Arthur Cosyn | ± 120 m² |
7 | Kiekeboe | Merho | April 2009 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. Ardila A. Kuleczko R. | Av. du Gros Tilleul / Av. de Madrid | ± 81 m² |
8 | Petit Spirou | Tome and Janry | May 1996 | Oreopoulos G. Vandegeerde D. | Boulevard du Centenaire, Place de Bruparck | ±50 m² |