Happy Birthday Hergé ! Happy Birthday Hergé Museum !

Just as every day of the calendar comes around once a year, so does 22 May, right in between 21 and 23 May. Nevertheless, 22 May is a very special day for all fans of Hergé. The creator of Tintin was born on that day in 1907, in a suburb of Brussels called Etterbeek.

This year his memory will be celebrated at the Hergé Museum in Louvain-la-Neuve. Furthermore, at the same time we are looking forward to blowing out a single candle to herald the first year of existence for the Museum itself. The building, conceived by French architect Christian de Portzamparc, was inaugurated on 22 May 2009 and opened its doors to the public a few days later on 2 June.

This Saturday 22 May, visitors to the museum will come across two gleaming vintage cars driven straight out of Tintin's adventures. The motorcars will be touring the Walloon Brabant countryside on the lookout for locations that inspired Hergé or for the places where he would have once walked.

Autograph hunters should check out the Museum Shop. Philippe Goddin (author of Chronologie d'une oeuvre and the biography, Hergé, Lignes de Vie), Gérard Lippert (Tintin et les Animaux), Fifi Tchang (co-author of Tchang !, with Jean-Michel Coblence) and Jean-Pierre Talbot (who played Tintin in the cinema during the 1960s in the films Tintin et le Mystère de la Toison d'Or and Tintin et les Oranges bleues) will all be on hand to sign their works.

Sunshine is forecast on the day; we look forward to seeing you all there !