1897 in Belgium

Events in the year 1897 in Belgium.

Incumbents

 * Monarch: Leopold II
 * Prime Minister: Paul de Smet de Naeyer

Events

 * 10 May – Brussels International Exposition opens
 * 28 July – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom gives notification of his country's intention to withdraw from the Anglo-Belgian Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1862), to come into effect one year later.
 * 16 August – Belgian Antarctic Expedition sets sail from Antwerp
 * 8 November – Brussels International Exposition closes
 * 16 December – Charles-Gustave Walravens appointed bishop of Tournai

Publications

 * Exhibitions
 * Camille Lemonnier, Alphonse Wauters, and Armand Heins, Le Palais de la ville de Bruxelles à l'Exposition universelle de 1897


 * Books
 * Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 14.
 * Grant Allen, Cities of Belgium (London, G. Richards)
 * Guido Gezelle, Rijmsnoer
 * Gustave Kahn, Limbes de lumières, illustrated by Georges Lemmen (Brussels, Edmond Deman)
 * Désiré-Joseph Mercier, Les Origines de la psychologie contemporaine
 * Emile Vandervelde, Le question agraire en Belgique

Births

 * 1 January – Albert De Vleeschauwer, politician (died 1971)
 * 24 January – Fernand Ledoux, actor (died 1994)
 * 29 January – Honoré Vlamynck, footballer (died 1974)
 * 11 April – Paul Graeffe, bobsledder (died 1957)
 * 7 May – Marcel Maas, pianist (died 1950)
 * 11 May – Joris Minne, artist (died 1988)
 * 2 June – Léon Trulin, intelligence agent (died 1915)
 * 8 June – Domien Jacob, gymnast (died 1984)
 * 19 June – Ernest Casimir-Lambert, bobsledder (died 1931)
 * 1 August – Camil Van Hulse, pianist (died 1988)
 * 25 August – Léoncé Oleffe, athlete (died 1972)
 * 12 September – Albert Wyckmans, cyclist (died 1995)
 * 4 November – Paul Finet, politician (died 1965)
 * 5 November – Paul Kronacker, politician (died 1994)
 * 24 November
 * Lode Craeybeckx, politician (died 1976)
 * Pierre Devaux, athlete (died 1984)
 * 5 December – Gust De Muynck, broadcaster (died 1986)
 * 18 December – Fernand Collin, banker (died 1990)

Deaths

 * 13 February – Gustave Den Duyts (born 1850), artist
 * 1 March – Jules de Burlet (born 1844), politician
 * 12 July – Félix Godefroid (born 1818), harpist
 * 23 September – Isidore-Joseph du Rousseaux (born 1826), bishop of Tournai
 * 22 November – Frans Verhas (born 1827), painter