L’edificio ha la sagoma di un prisma allungato. La facciata bianca rafforza la sensazione di leggerezza dell’edificio che emerge da una zona alberata (i boschi di questa regione che il fumettista ha riprodotto tante volte) e che collegata al resto della città da una passerella.
Le enormi vetrate laterali assomigliano a delle vignette. Non vi sono linee verticali né all’interno né all’esterno. Quattro pareti di colori vivaci (giallo, verde, salmone e quadri in bianco e nero) con disegni astratti accolgono il visitatore come omaggio simbolico alla avventure vissute da Tintin.

Passerelle ondulate e tetto parzialmente vetrato per il guadagno luce solare danno la sensazione di irrealtà ai visitatori che iniziano la visita dai piani superiori.
Negli otto ambiti in cui sono divisi i 3800 mq si possono distinguere 3 livelli “di conoscenza”, da principiante a “tintinòlogo”, ammirando disegni, filmati e fotografie sulla storia dell’artista belga. I primi due ambiti scavano nella vita di un amante dei gatti e di un uomo che ha iniziato lasua carriera come disegnatore. Vi è poi una sala per i suoi personaggi, una per la sua passione cinefila e giornalistica, allusioni alla sua visionaria vocazione scientifica e sulla sua ricerca umanistica. Una vasta area reception ospita i quattro volumi dedicati all’esposizione collegati tra loro da passerelle sospese.


Over the years, Hergé’s artistic output has become established as a work of distinction.
The idea of a museum has been germinating from as far back as 1979, while he was still alive. The goal was always to make Hergé’s myriad creations known to the wider public.

To do justice to such an important project, a lot of time and careful reflection was necessary. The main task was to strike the right balance between the nuances of a complex reality and the legendary status that was starting to develop around the man and his creation.

In 1986, three years after the artist passed away, the idea took shape in the form of the Hergé Foundation.

From the start of the new millennium, this organisation (now renamed Studios Hergé) has worked tirelessly to identify and catalogue the most suitable elements for exhibition in a museum consecrated to Hergé.

On 10 January 2001, Tintin’s ‘birthday’, the important announcement was made: the Hergé Museum was to be built in Louvain-la-Neuve, a recently created university town, less than 30 kilometres from Brussels.

Eight years later and the dream is materialising. The Hergé Museum opens its doors at the start of June 2009, two years after the first stone was laid on 22 May 2007, the artist’s birthday.

Expectations are as high as the project is ambitious. A well-known architect was chosen to bring the industrious plans to fruition: the Frenchman Christian de Portzamparc. In recognition of his achievements, in 1994 he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious accolade in international architecture.

De Portzamparc has used all his skills in building design to integrate the principals of Hergé’s work, superbly highlighting the unique features of the latter’s art, which led to his becoming the founder and master of the clear line technique.