On 22nd May 1907, a little boy was born at n° 25, rue Cranz, Etterbeek, a district of Brussels: Georges Prosper Remi. REMI was soon to become HERGÉ, the brilliant creator of Tintin and Snowy.

The true father of European comic strip, the inventor of the clean line, became, over the course of time, a world famous author. His work, translated into sixty or so languages and published in more than two hundred million copies, gave rise to a quantity of reference works relating to specialities as advanced as psychoanalysis, linguistics or historical criticism.

Hergé left this world in 1983. More than twenty years after his death, a real myth has grown around him and his paper heroes. From China to Canada, Switzerland to Japan, there’s the same fascination everywhere and the craze for the adventures of the little reporter is still there, from 7 to 77 year-olds, according to the established formula.

However, while Hergé and Tintin are known all over the world, we should not lose sight of the fact that Brussels and Belgium occupied a key place in the life and work of this master of the Ninth Art.

Guided by the infallible flair of Snowy and with the effective collaboration of two of the most famous sleuths in the history of comic strip, the famous detectives Thomson and Thompson, discover the Brussels of King Ottokar’s Sceptre or that of The 7 Crystal Balls, the house where Hergé was born, the Vieux Marché of the Secret of the Unicorn; stroll along the broad boulevards in search of Tintin and Captain Haddock…

Above all, don’t miss a tour of the magnificent Galerie du Roi, the very one where Hergé met, for the first time, another giant of strip cartoon: Edgar-P. Jacobs and his famous Blake and Mortimer series. Not far from there, in the Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art, a completely renovated section celebrates the works of Hergé through various scene presentations. Close to another famous Belgian - Manneken-Pis – is the new wall fresco of Tintin, Snowy and Haddock. In the heart of Brussels, somewhere between a dream-world and reality, walk in the steps of this cartoonist with the fabulous destiny and let yourself be caught up, once again, in the magic of the fascinating adventures of Tintin and Snowy!

© Hergé / Moulinsart 2007