1863 in Belgium

Events in the year 1863 in Belgium.

Incumbents

 * Monarch: Leopold I
 * Head of government: Charles Rogier

Events

 * 9 April – Treaty of amity, commerce and navigation with the Kingdom of Italy signed in Turin.
 * 12 May – Commercial treaty with the Netherlands, including Dutch agreement to perpetual abolition of tolls on the Scheldt river in return for a payment of 17 million guilders
 * 20 May – Commercial treaty with the United States, bringing relations into line with the free trade agreements already signed with France (1861), the United Kingdom (1862) and the Netherlands (1863).
 * 9 June – Partial legislative elections of 1863
 * 16 July – Multilateral treaty for the redemption of the Scheldt tolls signed in Brussels
 * 27 July – Commercial treaty with the Austrian Empire, bringing relations into line with the free trade agreements already signed with France (1861), the United Kingdom (1862) and the Netherlands (1863).
 * 1 August – Clipper Marnix van Sinte-Aldegonde the first ship to sail toll-free from Antwerp to the mouth of the Scheldt.
 * 11 August – State visit of Queen Victoria to Belgium.
 * 18-22 August – First Catholic Congress in Mechelen.
 * Guild of Saint Thomas and Saint Luke for the study and promotion of Christian art founded
 * 19 September – Convention modifying the 1852 postal convention between Belgium and the Office of the Prince of Tour and Taxis signed in Brussels.
 * 26 December – Solvay chemical company founded.

Publications

 * Periodicals
 * Annuaire de l'Observatoire Royal de Bruxelles, vol. 31
 * La Belgique horticole, edited by Édouard Morren
 * Bulletin du Bibliophile Belge, vol. 19, edited by A. Scheler (Brussels, F. Heussner)
 * Bulletins de l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, second series, vol. 15
 * Collection de précis historiques, vol. 12, edited by Edouard Terwecoren S.J.
 * Dubbele wegwyzer der stad Gent en der provincie Oost-Vlaenderen, vol. 1 (Ghent, Vanderhaeghen)
 * Revue belge et étrangère, 15
 * Revue Trimestrielle, vol. 38
 * Le Timbre-Poste begins publication


 * Studies and reports
 * Prosper de Haulleville, Les Catholiques et les libertés constitutionnelles en Belgique
 * Émile de Laveleye, Essai sur l'économie rurale de la Belgique


 * Historical editions
 * Louis Galesloot, Procès de François Anneessens: doyen du corps des métiers de Bruxelles, vol. 2 (Brussels and The Hague)
 * Jehan le Bel, Les vrayes chroniques, edited by Lambert Polain, vol. 1

Art and architecture

 * Performances
 * 3 January – First performance of Charles Hugo's stage adaptation of Les Misèrables, Théâtre Royal des Galeries, Brussels

Births

 * 10 January – Félix Wielemans, soldier (died 1917)
 * 3 February – Charles Magnette, politician (died 1937)
 * 8 March – Théophile Bovy, journalist (died 1937)
 * 3 April – Henry van de Velde, painter (died 1957)
 * 21 April – Paul Lebrun, composer (died 1920)
 * 25 June – Émile Francqui, philanthropist (died 1935)
 * 26 June
 * Paul Pelseneer, biologist (died 1945)
 * Henri Quersin, marksman (died 1944)
 * 13 August – Pol Demade, writer (died 1936)
 * 21 August – Jules Destrée, politician (died 1936)
 * 1 September – Herman Baltia, soldier (died 1938)
 * 14 November – Leo Baekeland, chemist (died 1944)
 * 10 December – Maurice Hennequin, playwright (died 1926)

Deaths

 * 8 February – Martin Martens (born 1797), botanist and chemist
 * 14 May – Emmanuel Noterman (born 1808), painter
 * 18 July – Arnold Timothée de Lasaulx (born 1774), politician
 * 19 July – André-Napoléon Fontainas (born 1807), politician
 * 26 September – Jean Thienpont (born 1774), politician
 * 31 October – Augustus Van Dievoet (born 1803), judge