# 1905 in Belgium

The following lists events that happened during 1905 in the Kingdom of Belgium.

## Incumbents

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

## Events
### February

* 5 February – General strike in Belgian coal fields begins.$^{:768}$
* 10 February – Belgian Labour Party provides striking miners with 12.5 francs each in strike pay.$^{:769}$

### March

* 1 March – Art association Kunst van Heden founded in Antwerp.$^{:769}$
* 11 March – General strike in the coal fields ends.$^{:768}$

### April

* 27 April – Opening of the Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège.
* 30 April – First international football fixture between Belgium and the Netherlands held in Antwerp; Dutch win 1–4.$^{:768}$

### May

* 1 May – Season of events to celebrate 75th anniversary of Belgian independence opened.$^{:768}$
* 7 May – Belgians win international football fixture against France in Brussels, 7–0.$^{:768}$

### June

* 23 June – Strikes for shorter hours in Ghent textile mills.$^{:768}$

### July

* 26 July – Law promulgated making Sunday an obligatory day of rest in trade and industry.$^{:769}$
* 27 July – Edward Joris arrested in Istanbul for his part in the Yıldız assassination attempt.

### August

* 1 to 6 August – 1905 European Rowing Championships held on the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal in Ghent.
* 12 August – King opens new sports stadium in Antwerp.$^{:768}$

### September

* 27 September – King ceremonially opens Arcade du Cinquantenaire in Brussels.

### October

* 12 October – First stone of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Brussels laid.

### November

* 5 November – Independent committee of enquiry into abuses in the Congo Free State, set up in response to the publication of the Casement Report the previous year, releases its findings.$^{:769}$
* 6 November – Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège closes.
* 12 November – Formal opening of the Belgian-engineered Beijing–Hankou railway.$^{:768}$
* 25 November – Christian democrats obtain episcopal recognition as a Catholic organisation.$^{:768}$
* 30 November – Walloon Congress in Liège to promote the culture of French-speaking Belgium and to oppose the movement for greater use of Dutch in public life.$^{:770}$

## Publications

* La Nation Belge, 1830-1905, conférences jubilaires faites à l’Exposition Universelle et internationale de Liège en 1905 (Liège, Ch. Desoer & Brussels, P. Weissenbruch)

### Periodicals

* La Belgique Artistique et Littéraire begins publication.

### Scholarship

* Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 18.
* Ernest Closson, Chansons populaires des provinces belges (Brussels, Mainz, London, Leipzig)
* Alphonse Dubois, Remarques sur l'ornithologie de l'État indépendant du Congo
* Hippolyte Fierens-Gevaert, La Renaissance septentrionale et les premiers maitres des Flandres (Brussels, Librarie Nationale d'Art et d'Histoire)
* Godefroid Kurth, La Patrie Belge: 75è Anniversaire de l'Indépendance Nationale (Namur)
* Joseph Van den Gheyn, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, vol. 5.
* Joseph Van den Gheyn, La préhistoire en Belgique (1830-1905) (1905)

### Literature

* Mark Twain, King Leopold's Soliloquy (Boston)
* Émile Verhaeren, Les heures d'après-midi (Brussels, Edmond Deman)

## Art and architecture
### Exhibitions

* 15 July to 2 November – Retrospective of Belgian art, 1830-1905, Brussels

### Sculpture

* Constantin Meunier, The Docker

### Buildings

* Victor Horta, Magasins Waucquez
* Gédéon Bordiau and Charles Girault, Arcade du Cinquantenaire, Brussels

## Births

* 15 January – Jean Van Buggenhout, cyclist (died 1974)
* 10 March – René Bernier, composer (died 1984)
* 28 March – Jenny Toitgans, athlete
* 1 April – Gaston Eyskens, politician (died 1988)
* 3 April – Georges Lemaire, cyclist (died 1933)
* 10 April – Edgard Viseur, athlete
* 4 May – Désiré Acket, painter (died 1987)
* 21 June – Alfred De Taeye, politician (died 1958)
* 6 July – Suzanne Spaak, resistance operative (died 1944)
* 22 October – Maurice Geldhof, cyclist (died 1970)
* 17 November – Astrid of Sweden, Queen of the Belgians (died 1935)
* 27 November – Daniel Sternefeld, composer (died 1986)
* 18 December – Jane Graverol, painter (died 1984)

## Deaths

* 9 March – Paul Costermans (born 1860), deputy governor general of the Congo Free State, by his own hand
* 4 April – Constantin Meunier (born 1831), painter and sculptor
* 9 April – Léon d'Andrimont (born 1836), politician
* 23 April – Théodore Nilis (born 1851), colonial official
* 6 August – Léo Errera (born 1858), plant physiologist
* 10 August – Georges Nagelmackers (born 1845), engineer and entrepreneur
* 17 November – Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders (born 1837), heir presumptive to the Belgian throne.
* 12 December – Reimond Stijns (born 1850), writer