1878 in Belgium

The following lists events that happened during 1878 in the Kingdom of Belgium.

Incumbents

 * Monarch: Leopold II
 * Prime Minister: Jules Malou (to 19 June); Walthère Frère-Orban (from 19 June)

Events

 * May to November – Belgium participates in the Paris Universal Exhibition.
 * 27 May – Provincial elections
 * 11-18 June – Partial legislative elections of 1878 (first with voting booths to ensure a secret ballot)
 * 19 June – Walthère Frère-Orban replaces Jules Malou as Prime Minister
 * 22-25 August – Twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations of King Leopold II and Queen Marie-Henriette, including a parade of 23,000 school children on 23 August.
 * 13 November – Jules Guillery succeeds as Charles Rogier as Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives

Publications

 * Periodicals
 * Almanach de Poche de Bruxelles (Brussels, H. Manceaux)
 * Annuaire de l'Observatoire royal de Bruxelles, 46 (Brussels, F. Hayez)
 * Annuaire du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, 2 (Brussels, Librairie Européenne C. Muquardt)
 * Bulletin de la Société belge de géographie, 2 (Brussels, Secrétariat de la Société Belge de Géographie)
 * Bulletins de l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, 47 (Brussels, M. Hayez).
 * Le Moniteur Belge.
 * Revue de l'horticulture belge et étrangère (Ghent, Bureaux de la Revue)
 * Revue du notariat belge, 4 (Brussels, Bureau de la Revue)


 * Books
 * Hendrik Conscience, De Schat van Felix Roobeek
 * Henri Guillaume, Histoire de l'infanterie wallonne sous la maison d'Espagne, 1500–1800 (Brussels, Académie Royale)

Art and architecture

 * Buildings
 * Great Synagogue of Brussels completed


 * Paintings
 * Félicien Rops, Pornocrates

Births

 * 18 January – Henri Baels, politician (died 1951)
 * 19 February – Henri Carton de Tournai, politician (died 1969)
 * 5 March – Gaston Salmon, fencer (died 1917)
 * 10 March – Karel van de Woestijne, author (died 1929)
 * 16 March – Émile Cammaerts, author (died 1953)
 * 29 March – Jules Pire, resistance leader (died 1953)
 * 14 April – August Borms, quisling (died 1946)
 * 23 June – Gustave Strauven, architect (died 1919)
 * 1 July – Joseph Maréchal, Jesuit (died 1944)
 * 5 July – Jean de Bosschère, writer and painter (died 1953)
 * 6 July – Charles Terlinden, historian (died 1972)
 * 15 July – Hendrik De Vocht, scholar (died 1962)
 * 13 September – Oscar Joliet, bishop (died 1969)
 * 20 November – Joseph-Marie Canivez, Trappist (died 1952)

Deaths

 * 18 January – Frans de Cort (born 1834), writer
 * 9 July – Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier (born 1797), botanist and politician
 * 7 August – Joseph Gustave Ernest Allard (born 1840), politician
 * 16 November – Charles Vilain XIIII (born 1803), politician