The Tintin museum in Louvaine-la-Neuve – Tintin travel in Belgium

Brussels holds a special place in our heart because it was our first trip abroad together in 1987. Since then, we have returned to Brussels and Belgium several times – to visit museums, to enjoy chocolate and Belgian fries, to admire Art Nouveau architecture by Victor Horta and spend time in Belgian pubs. And over the years we have also visited a number of sites connected with the adventures of the Comic hero Tintin, among them the Tintin museum in Louvaine-la-Neuve, the Brussels Comic Museum and of course the Tintin merch shop. In this post we take you along on our Tintin travels in Belgium.

*This post contains some affiliate links*

Who is Tintin?

Tintin is a young reporter who is travelling around the world with his dog Snowy in numerous comic books. The Adventures of Tintin first appeared in 1929 as a weekly serial comic strip in a Belgian Newspaper. Their creator, Georges Remi, soon became famous for his comic characters and went by the name of Hergé (the initials of his name read with a French pronunciation). Since the Adventures of Tintin were so popular, Hergé published them in individual collections. In total, Hergé drew about two dozen Tintin adventures until his death in 1983. Reading and dreaming the stories of Tintin was part of our childhood. In German, though, Tintin’s name is Tim, instead, and his dog Snowy is called Struppi. In the original French version, the dog is called Milou …

Tintin in Brussels

For many Belgians, it seems, Tintin is a near-real fellow citizen as he is perhaps the internationally most famous Belgian! At Brussels Airport, for instance, stands a curious red-and-white chequered rocket. The rocket is part of Tintin’s adventure on the moon – which Hergé wrote as early as 1952! And near Bruxelles Midi train station, the images of Tintin and Snowy greet visitors from the top of a building. This used to be the location of Hergé’s publisher, Le Lombard.

The Hergé Museum in Louvaine-la-Neuve

There also is a whole Tintin museum dedicated to the reporter, his dog and a bunch of other characters from the comics. The Hergé Museum, however, is not in Brussels, but in the nearby town of Louvain-la-Neuve. On our recent trip to Belgium we finally managed a visit to the Hergé Museum. True to its official name, the museum in Louvain-la-Neuve presents the whole work of Hergé.

Apart from a few different comic strips evolving around some different casts of characters, Hergé also worked in advertising for a while. And later in life, he had an interest in art and design and was a collector of contemporary art. However, for the most part the huge purpose-built structure is a Tintin Museum.

As ardent Tintin fans, we had decided to dedicate a whole day to Louvain-la-Neuve and the Tintin/Hergé Museum. And rightly so: The Tintin Exhibition is big enough to spend four or five hours! From an introduction to the early years of Hergé working as an illustrator for commercial ads, we move on to the first comic strips, which he drew in the 1920s. There are some stories about Totor, a Belgian boy scout who looks a bit like Tintin but more stocky and less charming. And two small boys called Quick and Flupke. They are mischievous rascals roaming the streets of Brussels, and their stories are still in print.

Exploring the world of Tintin at the Hergé Museum

Beyond that, in the Tintin museum, it is all about the young reporter and the cast of characters that make up the world of Tintin. We marvel at the original drawings from the Adventures of Tintin, including sketches and preliminary drawings. Next to them, there are often photographs and newspaper clippings which Hergé used to draw all those fine details: Ships, motorcycles, aircraft. Even in the first few stories, when he was still inventing the narrative on the go during the newspaper serialisation, Hergé would pay great attention to such details.

And from 1934 onwards, when he wrote the “Blue Lotus” story set in China, this focus on accuracy would take on otaku qualities. After meeting with a Chinese exchange student, Hergé took also care to research the social and political conditions of the country his story was set in. He continued to do so for all the exotic locations he sent his fictional character travelling to.

Friends in the Tintin Museum

The Tintin Museum also introduces the various friends and villains of the Tintin universe in several showrooms. As the body of Tintin works grew, characters from the comic books became a fixture in the stories. Readers can thus look forward to meeting beloved characters again: Captain Haddock, for instance. The pipe-smoking and hard-drinking mariner stands out for his colourful use of insults. They range from “Jellyfish” and “Pickled Herring” to “Miserable Molecule of Mildew”. After all, Hergé was writing the stories for a catholic newspaper’s children’s supplement – real swear words would not have been appropriate. And then there’s the eccentric Diva Bianca Castafiore. Or the almost identical Secret Police Officers Thomson and Thompson who often add an element of slapstick to the stories.

We brought our Snowy to the museum’s well-stocked shop to meet his newer siblings, and we found postcards showing old cover images of the Tintin Adventures

The Tintin family

The Tintin Museum also introduces the various friends and villains of the Tintin universe in several showrooms. As the body of Tintin works grew, characters from the comic books became a fixture in the stories. Readers can thus look forward to meeting beloved characters again: Captain Haddock, for instance. The pipe-smoking and hard-drinking mariner stands out for his colourful use of insults. They range from “Jellyfish” and “Pickled Herring” to “Miserable Molecule of Mildew”. After all, Hergé was writing the stories for a catholic newspaper’s children’s supplement – real swear words would not have been appropriate. And then there’s the eccentric Diva Bianca Castafiore. Or the almost identical Secret Police Officers Thomson and Thompson who often add an element of slapstick to the stories.

We brought our Snowy to the museum’s well-stocked shop to meet his newer siblings, and we found postcards showing old cover images of the Tintin Adventures.

What else to see in Louvain-la-Neuve

Although one could easily spend the whole day in the Hergé Museum (as we did) there are some other sights to explore in town. Louvaine-la-Neuve is about 30 km southeast of Brussels. It is a university town only built in the 1970s, when after religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants at the nearby University of Leuven, the catholic staff and students packed up and moved to this new site. Louvain-la-Neuve thus now houses the complete catholic part of the historic Leuven University. It has a rich student pub scene and an interesting 1970s modernist architecture. Recently, in keeping with the Hergé Museum, they have also promoted street art in public spaces. We took some nice pictures in town and had a good evening in one of the pubs. 

Tintin immersive experience in Brussels

Just at the time we were in Belgium, an Immersive Tintin Experience was running in Brussels. So, we leaped at the chance to indulge in Tintin adventures a bit more. The Tintin Experience was inside the Tour & Taxis quarter, a business district on the grounds of a former customs facility near the river.

Again, we get a short introduction to the comic characters of the Tintin series. And then a 30-minute show of larger-than-life images from the Tintin Adventures. They are synchronized to cover all the walls in a large room, and the visitors are sitting in the middle of the light show. Together with Tintin and Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Thompson and Thomson, we delve into the sea and witness the chequered rocket land on the moon. Visiting the show was not as immersive as we had hoped for, but it was very entertaining.

More comic art and more Tintin in Brussels

Since Tintin is not the only comic book character originating in Belgium, or in Brussels, for that matter, there is much more to explore for fans of comic art. The Comic Museum in Brussels of course has a large section on the Adventures of Tintin. But it also gives a good overview of other comic artists working in Belgium, such as André Franquin and Philippe Geluck.

During our first visit in Brussels in 1987 we visited a statue of Tintin and Snowy at the Wolvendael Park in the outskirts of the Belgian capital. It had been erected in 1976 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Tintin magazine. Currently the statue is in the Centre Culturel d’Uccle (Uccle Cultural Centre), also in Brussels.

Quite in line with the local importance of comic art, the City of Brussels has supported a series of large-scale street murals dedicated to comic art. During one of our travels to Brussels, we got a map outlining a self-guided city tour visiting all the comic artist street art! Apart from the obligatory Tintin mural, we particularly liked the characters Kinky and Cozy, by Nix. The little twin girls cause mayhem and slapstick wherever they go. Very dark and very funny.

And mind you, the comic art and Tintin-mania are not limited to Brussels and Louvain-la-Neuve. All of Belgium seems to be full of comic lovers, and of references to comic art. In the respectable MAS museum in Antwerp with its historic and modern art collections, we came across Tintin, too!

How to get to the Hergé Museum in Louvaine-la-Neuve from Brussels

It takes about one hour to Louvian-la-Neuve from any of the Brussels train stations (Bruxelles Midi/Brussels Zuid is the biggest). Intercity and local trains run to Ottignie where you have to change for a slow train. The Hergé Museum is an easy walk from the train station.

Books for further reading

Some other comic characters we discovered in Belgium recently

We were not sponsored to write this post and paid all expenses ourselves.

Use these images to save the post to Pinterest: