First Sunday of the month exclusives

On the first Sunday of every month entrance to the Hergé Museum is free! It is the perfect occasion to pay a visit to the 3000m2 of space dedicated to the creator of Tintin, Snowy and their friends. Hundreds of archival documents, more than 80 original illustration plates as well as objects and models…are there for your enjoyment.

This Sunday 1st October only:

• Preview sale of the album Les Bijoux de la Castafiore - la version du journal Tintin (in French only), with today's date stamp
• All visitors will receive a gift related to the most theatrical of Hergé's albums

In January 2018, Belgian musicologist and actress Valentine Jongen launched the YouTube channel Val so Classic: a series of videos on the internet that popularise classical music. Today, Val so Classic has almost 20,000 subscribers, more than 80 videos and over 730,000 views.

Using a variety of formats, Valentine covers topics such as the clichés of the opera world, musical instruments, the basics of music theory and the history of music. Through her videos, Valentine also makes the links between classical music and pop culture.

Valentine couldn't fail to be impressed by the charm of the famous singer Bianca Castafiore and her famous Air des bijoux.

Her short film, Qui est vraiment Bianca Castafiore tells the story of this paper character with a "powerful, shattering" voice. Bianca Castafiore is not short of breath!

We all know the Air des bijoux. At least, we all know the first line: "Ah, I'm laughing to see myself so beautiful in this mirror".

But what happens next? And, above all, where does this tune come from?

Who is Charles Gounod? What is the symbol of Faust, Gounod's best-known work?

All these questions will be examined and analysed by Valentine in her short film, not forgetting Hergé and his relationship with classical music and opera!