Culture of Belgium

Belgian culture involves both the aspects shared by all Belgians regardless of the language they speak and the differences between the main cultural communities: the Dutch-speaking Belgians (Flemish) and the French-speaking Belgians (mostly Brusselsian and Walloon people). Most Belgians view their culture as an integral part of European culture.

The territory corresponding to present-day Belgium having always been located at the meeting point of Germanic and Latin Europe, it benefited from a rich cross-fertilization of cultures for centuries. Due to its strategic position in the heart of Europe, Belgium has been at the origin of many European artistic and cultural movements.

Famous elements of the Belgian culture include gastronomy (Belgian beers, fries, chocolate, waffles, etc.), the comic strip tradition (Tintin, the Smurfs, Spirou & Fantasio, the Marsupilami, Lucky Luke, Largo Winch, etc.), painting and architecture (the Art Nouveau, the Mosan art, the Early Netherlandish painting, the Flemish renaissance and Baroque painting as well as major examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture), folklore, and surrealism (in art as well as in the attitude of most Belgians).

Since modern culture is more than ever related to languages (theatres, media, literature, etc), the modern Belgian cultural life has tended to develop in each linguistic community (with common elements however). Members of each of the two main linguistic groups generally make their cultural choices from within their own language community, and then, when going beyond, the Flemish draw intensively from both the English-speaking culture (which dominates sciences, professional life and most news media) and the Netherlands, whereas French-speakers tend to focus more on cultural life in France and elsewhere in the French-speaking world even though the English-speaking culture is more present in French-speaking Belgium than in France.

Minorities, such as the Jews who have formed a component of Flemish culture — in particular that of Antwerp — for over five hundred years, have specific cultures.