# 1958 in Belgium

Events in the year 1958 in Belgium.

## Incumbents

* Monarch – Baudouin
* Prime Minister – Achille Van Acker (to 26 June); Gaston Eyskens (from 26 June)

## Events
### January

* 1 January – Treaty of Rome establishing European Economic Community comes into force.$^{:904}$
* 10 January – Konrad Adenauer and Robert Schuman received honorary doctorates from the Catholic University of Leuven.$^{:904}$

### February

* 3 February – Treaty creating Benelux Economic Union signed, to come into force 1 November 1960, providing for free movement of workers, capital, services, and goods between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

### March

* 11 March – Prince Albert takes his seat in the Senate.$^{:904}$
* 12 March – Fud Leclerc comes sixth in the Eurovision Song Contest, singing "Ma petite chatte".
* 18 March – Atomium completed.$^{:904}$

### April

* 4 April – Tourist information office opens on the Place de Brouckère, Brussels.$^{:175}$
* 12 April – Bokrijk open-air museum opens.
* 17 April – King Baudouin opens Expo 58, the first major World's Fair since the Second World War.$^{:184}$ John Carl Studder of El Paso, Texas, had queued for 48 hours to be the first visitor admitted.$^{:904}$

### May

* 18 May
** Demonstration of about 200,000 marches through Brussels to protest the Socialist government's education policy.$^{:904}$
** A Douglas DC-7 on a Sabena flight to Léopoldville crashes in Casablanca, with 65 fatalities and 4 survivors.$^{:904}$
* 28 May – Real Madrid wins the European Cup Final against A.C. Milan in the Heysel Stadium, Brussels

### June

* 1 June – General election held: Christian Democrats become the largest group in parliament.
* 15 June
** Tony Brooks wins the 19th Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
** Brussels Film Festival opens, with Georges Simenon chairing the jury.$^{:907}$
* 22 June – Olivier Gendebien, partnered with Phil Hill in the Scuderia Ferrari team, comes first in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.$^{:906}$
* 26 June
** 45th Tour de France starts in Brussels.$^{:164}$
** Gaston Eyskens (Christian Social Party) replaces Achille Van Acker (Socialist Party) as Prime Minister.$^{:906}$

### July

* 20–23 July – World Archery Championships held in Brussels.

### September

* 9 September – USS Skate (SSN-578) ceremonially welcomed in Zeebrugge after its Arctic mission.$^{:906}$
* 25 September – Belgian government intervenes to reduce the price of Belgian coal, with 7,855,000 tonnes stockpiled but uncompetitively expensive on international markets.$^{:906}$

### October

* 4 October – Sabena breaks Brussels–Paris air speed record with an S58 helicopter.$^{:904}$
* 10 October – Patrice Lumumba founds Mouvement National Congolais.$^{:906}$
* 12 October – Municipal elections; Christian Social Party makes gains.$^{:904}$
* 19 October – Expo 58 closes.$^{:171}$

### November

* 6 November – Political agreement reached on post-war reforms to educational policy, ending a period of contention known as the "Second School War".
* 28 November – Patrice Lumumba declares in Léopoldville that "Independence is not a gift of Belgium but a fundamental right of the Congolese people."$^{:904}$

### December

* 1 December – Francis Walder awarded the Prix Goncourt for his Saint-Germain ou la négociation.$^{:907}$
* 11 December – Dominique Pire receives the Nobel Peace Prize.

### Full date unknown

* En 50 ans, documentary film is released.

## Publications

* Léon Kochnitzky, Negro Art in the Belgian Congo (New York, Belgian Government Information Center)

## Performances
### May

* 2 May – Annie Fischer performs at Expo58.$^{:160}$

### June

* 22 June – Galina Ulanova performs at Expo58.$^{:160}$
* 24 June – Amália Rodrigues performs at Expo58.$^{:160}$

### August

* 20 August – First performance of Gian Carlo Menotti's Maria Golovin at Expo58.$^{:904}$

## Film

* Nature documentary Les Seigneurs de la forêt$^{:907}$ – English version with narration by Orson Welles distributed internationally by 20th Century Fox as Lords of the Forest (UK) or Masters of the Congo Jungle (US)

## Births

* 16 July – Sabine de Bethune, politician
* 14 December – Jan Fabre, artist

## Deaths

* 6 January – Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium
* 11 April – Alfred De Taeye (born 1905), politician