1905 in Belgium

← 1904 1903 1902 1905 in Belgium → 1906 1907 1908
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	Other events of 1905 List of years in Belgium

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

• Monarch: Leopold II^[1]
• Prime Minister: Paul de Smet de Naeyer

February

• 5 February – General strike in Belgian coal fields begins.^[2]: 768
• 10 February – Belgian Labour Party provides striking miners with 12.5 francs each in strike pay.^[2]: 769

March

• 1 March – Art association Kunst van Heden founded in Antwerp.^[2]: 769
• 11 March – General strike in the coal fields ends.^[2]: 768

April

• 27 April – Opening of the Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège.^[3]
• 30 April – First international football fixture between Belgium and the Netherlands held in Antwerp; Dutch win 1–4.^[2]: 768

May

• 1 May – Season of events to celebrate 75th anniversary of Belgian independence opened.^[2]: 768
• 7 May – Belgians win international football fixture against France in Brussels, 7–0.^[2]: 768

June

• 23 June – Strikes for shorter hours in Ghent textile mills.^[2]: 768

July

• 26 July – Law promulgated making Sunday an obligatory day of rest in trade and industry.^[2]: 769
• 27 July – Edward Joris arrested in Istanbul for his part in the Yıldız assassination attempt.^[4]

August

• 1 to 6 August – 1905 European Rowing Championships held on the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal in Ghent.^[5]
• 12 August – King opens new sports stadium in Antwerp.^[2]: 768

September

• 27 September – King ceremonially opens Arcade du Cinquantenaire in Brussels.^[6]

October

• 12 October – First stone of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Brussels laid.^[7]

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.^[2]: 769
• 6 November – Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège closes.^[8]
• 12 November – Formal opening of the Belgian-engineered Beijing–Hankou railway.^[2]: 768
• 25 November – Christian democrats obtain episcopal recognition as a Catholic organisation.^[2]: 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.^[2]: 770

• 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.^[9]

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)^[10]

Literature

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

Exhibitions

• 15 July to 2 November – Retrospective of Belgian art, 1830-1905, Brussels^[11]

Sculpture

• Constantin Meunier, The Docker

Buildings

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

• 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)

• 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