[shankar.balan]

I am a lifelong Tintin fan and indeed can describe myself easily as an amateur Tintinologist.

My wife and I have grown up with and always enjoyed and appreciated the wonderful ‘ligne claire’ drawing style, art and inspirations of Herge…Georges Remi, the author.

Over the years we have visited most of the Tintin shops around the world, located at multiple places in Belgium and a few places in the UK, Sweden, Singapore, India etc.

As a Collector of all things Tintin, I have all the books and plenty of memorabilia and critical analyses and so on, including the definitive Michael Farr Companion. Quite by chance, a decade and more ago, we had the opportunity also, when in the London Shop on Floral Street, Covent Garden, to meet the Daughter of Michael Farr, an ardent Tintinologist herself, just like her Dad.

So on this recent holiday we took to the EU Zone, we decided we would make sure to visit the Musee Herge, located in Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, about 35Kms outside of Brussels.

Transport wasn’t an issue as we were anyway on a driving tour of some countries in Europe and had our rented car, a nice LHD, Petrol, convertible VW T-0Roc with manual transmission which I had rented in Stuttgart and which we used on the drive through Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Germany etc.

I had booked our slot at the Musee Herge around 3 months earlier and had made a lunch reservation too, at their lovely restaurant, Le Petit Vingtieme, named after the magazine which Herge first wrote for.

The Musee Herge is a lovely place. As a Tintin aficionado, one can spend hours and hours there in a state of complete contentment. The collection of art and artefacts related to Tintin is extensive. And the topicality of Herge’s drawings and situations becomes abundantly clear considering he was a man of his time and very highly influenced by his extensive travels too. The entry ticket costs 12 EURO. An excellent, gourmet standard, meal for two in their restaurant costs about 70 EURO.

Long story short, the museum is a fantastic tribute to the genius of Herge. It is very well worth visiting.

Now, I shall put out the curated set of pictures here, for everyone’s viewing and enjoyment.

The excitement at reaching the Entrance to this Iconic Monument to the Genius of Herge!





The statue of Herge in the Lawn near the Museum Entrance. In an attitude of Sketching.


The Entrance and the Guard from the Museum of Ethnography in Tintin and the Broken Ear! What fun! It felt just as if I was walking into a Tintin Book!


And the Bust of Herge in the Museum.


We’ll move in now and see some of the other Artefacts and Curios.




The Thompson’s Citroen from Land of Black Gold! One Day your Car Goes BOOOOM!

[shankar.balan]

As we walk in, we see a sort of Kaleidoscope of Tintin images. It’s really quite wonderful. One gets transported right back to one’s growing up years!

[shankar.balan]

Herge started with writing for La Petit Vingtieme and most of his early stories appeared in Serial form in that Magazine.
Considering all this was nearly 90 years ago, it is amazing that none of it has lost any appeal whatsoever.
These museum visits are like a sort of pilgrimage for me. And it is nice to be able to share some of these here.

In this series of pictures one can see the covers of the magazine depicting the topics covered from The Broken Ear, which appeared in serial form, in instalments. Each cover represents the topic.

Of course this was a different time. A time of Imperialism and Political Instability and Banana Republics and Revolutions in South America so it is wonderfully Topical.

Herge was influenced massively by the goings on around him in the World. And by the Travel he undertook, to learn!

[shankar.balan]

Moving on into the Museum we see many icons, artefacts, figurines depicting scenes (like dioramas) and the development of the characters in his books.
It may seem frivolous to many. At my age, to be totally absorbed by Tintin.
But then, it is like I said, a lifelong obsession!

See clearly the inspiration for Tintin’s costume in Tintin in America, the bone that Snowy regularly finds and retrieves, the Sextant that Captain Haddock uses in Red Rackham’s Treasure. The chiaroscuro silhouette of Captain Haddock at Camp, smoking and with his rifle, is a brilliant campsite picture -used in Prisoners of the Sun if you remember!

Truly, I was transported to a different world!

[shankar.balan]

Very interesting pictures here - a “bas relief” of Tintin’s first meeting with Captain Haddock in The Crab with the Golden Claws. The Tin of Crab Meat that uncovered a worldwide Opium consipiracy centred around fictitious Bagghar City (somewhat inspired by Morocco or Tunisia). Three iconic iterations of the cover of The Black Island. A lifesize replica of Professor Calculus’s Shark Submarine from Red Rackham’s Treasure (inspired by the bathyscaphes of the day). Le Soir, the Famed Brussels Evening Newspaper. A collage of characters. A depiction of Herge’s Sanctum showing his eclectic tastes in books etc. A wheel depicting all his characters names. And two views of a paper look alike chandelier depicting the faces of the characters.
Amazing!

[shankar.balan]

Continuing along we see the inspiration for the Jolly Follies Costume in the Picaros. The Thompson Twins Bowler Hats! Some of the assorted figurines in the showcases. Professor Calculus as a Lenticular picture (really amazing)
Sir Francis Haddock’s legacy to his three sons. “Three Brothers Joyned”…etc.
Professor Hercules Tarragon from The Calculus Affair and the cover of the same book. Bianca Castafiore’s Faust Jewel Song record which she gifts to Tintin in Castafiore Emerald. A lovely B&W Study of Herge in his study. The Araneus Diadematus Spider from The Shooting Star. Figures from Explorers on the Moon and the good ship Aurora from The Shooting Star.

[shankar.balan]

More from Herge’s inspirations
The Cymbals from Tintin in Tibet and the Silk Scarf too.
The Flor Fina Cigars of the Pharaoh!
The Macaw from Red Rackham’s Treasure and a couple of the mass produced Arumbaya Fetishes from Balthazar’s workshop!
A Diorama of L’Ile Noir - The Black Island Scene
Thompson and Tintin
The Camera of the same type used in The Blue Lotus as well as King Ottokar’s Sceptre. This particular one depicts the spring loaded one which manages to shoot the Sceptre across the moat into the woods.

I am totally amazed to see all these things come to life in front of my eyes!
So glad I planned this visit!

[shankar.balan]

Tintin, Herge’s Creation. Straight out of his wonderful imagination. The picture showing Tintin bubbling up as a thought (fanciful imagery perhaps).
There is a cylindrical room at the end of the museum in which images of all the Tintin book covers in multiple languages are showcased.
The little red “Bolide” which Tintin uses!
Captain Haddock and a cartoon figure and Herge’s sort of “Food for Thought”

[shankar.balan]

We culminated our visit with a meal at their restaurant. It was an excellent meal of a high standard.

A lovely restaurant, totally in keeping with the Tintin theme. Even the Menu was so nicely designed depicting the Waiter from the restaurant KLOW in Ottokar’s Sceptre where Tintin eats a Slazcek and a glass of Spradj and where Snowy robs food from the kitchen!






And then of course a visit like this is never complete without a visit to the Gift Shop where I loaded myself with more mementos!

To be precise!










See ya Fellas! as Bobby Smiles would Say!

[Evyas]

Thank you for this wonderful travelogue - as a die hard Tintin fan myself it was great to visit the museum vicariously through your eyes.

My wife and I, both Tintin fans, sadly couldn’t make it from Paris when we were there a few years ago but it’s been on our list for a while. Now we know what to expect when we finally do go there!

When I was much younger I remember a Tintin book used to cost 32 rupees I would wait to collect all my pocket money savings and buy a new one. Sadly I could find none of the large format ones to gift a kid in the family recently and had to make do with the hard bound collected ones. But the fun of reading in that large format is something else.

I am not a collector but I do have a few Tintin figurines, especially the same scene from ‘Crab with the golden claws’ where Tintin meets Haddock for the first time. Really lovely to meet another ‘Tintinophile’

[Jeroen]

Thanks for sharing. Brings back a lot of memories. I used to have all TinTin comics as a teenager. In my case, the Dutch/Flemish version of course.

I had not realised there is an actual TinTin museum. Of course, TinTin is a bit of an iconic character in Belgium. Some years ago I did visit the excellent railroad museum in Brussels. They had a special exhibition about TinTin as well. I put some photographs up on the forum as well. Can’t rem er which tread. And I have the odd TinTin model car.

Great to see that shark submarine. I also liked the model of the ship. Somehow Hergé had a special knack for drawing very interesting looking machinery. From cars, to ships, planes, rockets and so on.

Some of his books made it into movies as well. Cartoons and real movies. Of course, these days some of his earlier work is considered to be somewhat controversial and politically incorrect. I don’t agree, what he wrote/drew was just a reflection of the times.

Next month my wife and I will be visiting Brussels to attend a Natalie Merchant concert. I am going to try and visit this museum on this trip too.

Jeroen

[am1m]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Tintin, Herge’s Creation. Straight out of his wonderful imagination. The picture showing Tintin bubbling up as a thought (fanciful imagery perhaps).

I believe that reproduction is from the last panel, from the last (uncompleted) volume, 'Tintin and Alph-Art' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin...inal_panel.png)

Perhaps that's the form in which Herge would execute all the initial sketches, while planning out the story? (Just speculating here.) Though, I doubt Herge would approve of a 'work-in-progress' being published, but the holders of the rights of course would want to cash in on the brand, so I think 'Alph-Art' was made available for sale.

What an excellent set of posts, thank you for sharing! What an amazing set of pics! Did they have reproductions of the 'crystal balls' as well? (That was a creepy story!)

[catchjyoti]

My favorite childhood comic! I didn't have all the issues because they were quite pricey for that time. In our class each of us used to buy different ones during the Calcutta Book Fair and then exchange among ourselves to be able to read them all. I still remember the earliest ones that I had bought were INR 22 apiece. Tintin in Tibet and The Black Island.

[Gansan]

Very nice! I was fond of Tintin comics, and even more fond of Asterix! Still am! Is there any museum for Asterix too?

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

So on this recent holiday we took to the EU Zone, we decided we would make sure to visit the Musee Herge, located in Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, about 35Kms outside of Brussels.

Ten thousand thundering typhoons! Billions of Blue blistering barnacles! What a brilliant thread!

Tintin and Asterix comics were staple reading fare during my wonder years, so it's such a nice nostalgic feeling to go through this thread. Believe it or not, when Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon, the first thing that came to my mind was Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. Even today, I randomly use Captain Haddock's curses and exclamations and "To be precise" by Thomson & Thompson in day-to-day conversations/chats, leading my friends/family to think that I have gone of my rocker!

Trivia: We have a member called Rastapopoulos