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. Most Belgians view their culture as an integral part of European culture.
Harelbeke is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Harelbeke proper and the towns of Bavikhove and Hulste. On January 1, 2019, Harelbeke had a total population of 28,447. The total area is 29.14 km² which gives a population density of 898 inhabitants per km². Inhabitants consider their hometown to be a "Weireldstad" (metropolis), which also led to a monthly "Harelbekedag" amongst the students of Harelbeke studying in Ghent.
Orlande de Lassus was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria as the leading composers of the later Renaissance. Immensely prolific, his music varies considerably in style and genres, which gave him unprecedented popularity throughout Europe.
The Netherlands has multiple musical traditions. Contemporary Dutch popular music is heavily influenced by music styles that emerged in the 1950s, in the United Kingdom and United States. The style is sung in both Dutch and English. Some of the latter exponents, such as Golden Earring and Shocking Blue, have attained worldwide fame.
Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar".
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard composers of Europe, and his work as a teacher helped establish the north German organ tradition.
The music of Belgium is a cultural mix where Flemish Dutch-speaking and Walloon French-speaking traditions mix with those of German minorities and of immigrant communities from Democratic Republic of the Congo or other distant countries.
François Schuiten is a Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series Les Cités Obscures.
Pieter de Hooch was a Dutch Golden Age painter famous for his genre works of quiet domestic scenes with an open doorway. He was a contemporary of Jan Vermeer in the Delft Guild of St. Luke, with whom his work shares themes and style.
Benoît Poelvoorde is a Belgian actor and comedian.
Emmanuel Hiel, was a Flemish-Dutch poet and prose writer.
Emile Claus was a Belgian painter.
Peter Benoit was a Flemish composer of Belgian nationality.
Jacobus Vaet was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was a representative of the generation between Josquin and Palestrina, writing smooth polyphony with pervasive imitation, and he was a friend both of Clemens non Papa and Lassus.
Flor Alpaerts was a Belgian conductor, pedagogue and composer. He graduated from the Vlaamse Muziekschool in 1901.
Laurent-Benoît Dewez was a Belgian architect of Walloon origin. He is considered the most influential architect in the Austrian Netherlands from the second half of the 18th century. His architectural projects are of international stature and introduced a neoclassical style, with Italian and English influences, to the region. He designed a large number of châteaux, abbeys and churches in Belgium, many of which were damaged after the French Revolution.
Jan Blockx was a Belgian composer, pianist and teacher. He was a leader of the Flemish nationalist school in music.
Jozef De Beenhouwer is a Belgian pianist, music teacher and musicologist.
Peter or Pieter Vanderghinste or Van der Ghinste was a Flemish composer who worked in United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Erasmus House, also known as the Erasmus House Museum, is a museum in Anderlecht, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium, devoted to the Dutch humanist writer Erasmus of Rotterdam.
