Archives et Musée de la Littérature

The Archives et Musée de la Littérature (AML) is a Brussels institution dedicated to collecting, cataloguing and preserving the literary, theatrical and publishing heritage of French-speaking Belgium. It occupies the third floor of the Royal Library of Belgium (Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, KBR), making it a natural stop for anyone already visiting this monumental building in the heart of the city.

When was the AML founded?

The institution was established in 1958 on the initiative of Joseph Hanse, working alongside Herman Liebaers, then chief curator of the Royal Library. From the outset, the goal was to build a documentation and research centre devoted to the literary heritage of French-speaking Belgium — a field that, without a dedicated institution, could easily have been scattered across private collections and publishers' archives.

What does the AML collection contain?

The core mission of the AML is to gather, process, conserve and provide access to documents relating to Belgian French-language authors and publishers, primarily covering the period from 1815 to the present. That is more than two centuries of the region's literary life brought together in one place.

Among the archives held are the papers of writers such as Charles Bertin, Herman Closson, Michèle Fabien, Fernand Crommelynck, Michel de Ghelderode and Jean Louvet — names central to the history of Francophone Belgian literature and theatre, even if less familiar internationally than the great names of Parisian letters. A particularly striking part of the collection is its photographic archive: tens of thousands of images, including portraits of writers, photographs of theatrical performances and literary events, and personal photos of authors.

What else makes this institution stand out?

The sheer diversity of the material makes the AML one of the leading research centres on the history of literary movements, including Surrealism — a current that developed a distinct identity in Belgium separate from its French counterpart (René Magritte is the best-known name in painting, though the AML's focus remains on the written word). The institution also runs an international literary library holding a collection of literary journals unique in Belgium, along with a separate archival fund dedicated to Central Africa — Burundi, Congo and Rwanda — regions historically tied to Belgium's colonial past.

Who is this place for?

The AML is aimed primarily at researchers, literature and language students, and enthusiasts of Francophone literature who want to explore how works actually came into being — manuscripts, correspondence, editorial documentation. It is not a typical museum built for mass tourism or Instagram photos, but rather a documentation centre of significant scholarly value. Its location inside the Royal Library building makes it easy to combine a visit with the KBR's other collections, including manuscripts and early printed books.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the Archives et Musée de la Littérature located? On the third floor of the Royal Library of Belgium in central Brussels.

How does the AML differ from a typical literature museum? It functions primarily as an archival and documentation centre, gathering manuscripts, correspondence and photographs rather than staging conventional exhibitions.

What time period does the collection cover? Mainly French-language Belgian literature from 1815 to the present day.

Does the collection include photographs? Yes, the photographic archive holds tens of thousands of images of writers, performances and literary events.