Here’s our selection of great books on Belgium, movies that capture the quintessential ambiance of Belgian life, culture and nature, tv shows that gives you in-depth knowledge of history or culture and links to helpful websites.
Books
Barbara Tuchman – The Guns of August
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic About the Outbreak of World War I.
Ben Coates – Why The Dutch Are Different
Travelogue, history and memoir in one humorous tale.
Tracy Chevalier – The Lady and the Unicorn
Historical novel about the tapestries of the same name, woven in medieval Brussels.
Dorothy Dunnett – The House of Niccolò
A series of eight historical novels set in the mid-fifteenth-century European Renaissance.
Laura Swan – The Wisdom of the Beguines: The Forgotten Story of a Medieval Women’s Movement
No country has more beguinages than Belgium. Discover the story behind this medieval women’s movement.
Hergé – The Adventures of Tintin
The iconic, belgian comic strip about a young man and his dog has inspired readers for more than a lifetime.
Marguerite Yourcenar – The Abyss
Prize-winning story of Zeno, a physician, philosopher, scientist and alchemist in Renaissance Bruges.
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Movies
In Bruges
Drama and dark-humoured comedy about a hitman’s banishment to Bruges.
Moscow, Belgium
Comedy about a 41-year old mother of three with a husband in his midlife-crisis, meets 29-year old Johnny, a truck driver, who takes an interest in her.
The Memory of a Killer
The two best detectives of the Antwerp police department are confronted with the murder on a leading executive.
The Battle of the Bulge
Henry Fonda stars in this dramatization of Nazi Germany’s final Western Front counterattack of World War II.
The Monuments Men
An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces in Ghent from Nazi thieves.
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TV-Shows
Salamander
A police inspector investigates the robbery of 66 safe deposit boxes at a private bank in Brussels.
La Trève
The body of a 19 year old footballer is pulled out of the river Semois, in the Belgian Ardennes.
Ennemi public
After 20 years in prison, a child killer finds refuge with the monks in a small village in the Belgian Ardennes. Until a little girl disappears.
Globe Trekker – Belgium & Luxemburg
One of the best Travel TV-Shows discovers the two countries, that are often overlooked, and gives you lots of proof why you shouldn’t look elsewhere.
Rick Steves – Bruges and Brussels
This FREE youtube video from Rick Steves, America’s most respected authority on European travel, gives you a great 26 minute introduction to Bruges and Brussels.
Watch more
Links
Visit Flanders – the northern, flemish part of Belgium.
Tourism Wallonia – official tourism website for Wallonia, the southern, french-speaking part of Belgium.
Top experiences in Brussels – according to Lonely planet.
Belgium – on Wikipedia.
RMI – Weather forecasts from the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium.