Les plus grands Belges


Les plus grands Belges, is a television show that aired in 2005 on the Belgian French-speaking public channel RTBF. In the program the audience could vote for the greatest Belgian by using the website, sending an SMS or using the telephone. In total several hundred thousand votes were cast. Nominees needed to have lived between 50 BC and now, between the borders of present-day Belgium. This is because Belgium only gained its independence in 1830, while numerous historical individuals from, for example, the Spanish Netherlands, are considered to be "Belgians".
A separate vote "De Grootste Belg" by the Belgian Dutch-speaking public channel VRT was held around the same time, producing strikingly different results, such as both top-10s sharing only three personalities, namely Jacques Brel, Father Damien and Eddy Merckx. To some this illustrates the low significance of any national cultural identity that remains shared among the two predominant language communities of the country.
Because Father Damien holds the highest average ranking of the three shared personalities it has been argued that he is the only one to be entitled "Greatest Belgian", as voted by all Belgians.

Top 10

From 11 to 100


  1. Paul-Henri Spaak, Prime Minister . President of the United Nations, Secretary General of N.A.T.O.. President of the European Coal and Steel Community.
  2. Albert I, king.
  3. Leopold II, king.
  4. Justine Henin, tennis player.
  5. Ernest Solvay, chemist, industrialist and philanthropist. Inventor of the ammonia-soda process.
  6. Victor Horta, architect and designer.
  7. Godfrey, Lord of Bouillon, knight, leader of the First Crusade and first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
  8. André Franquin, comics artist.
  9. Andreas Vesalius, anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, On the Structure of the Human Body.
  10. Adolphe Sax, musical instrument designer and musician, best known for inventing the saxophone.
  11. Peter Paul Rubens, painter.
  12. Philippe Geluck, comics artist and cartoonist.
  13. Zénobe Gramme, inventor of the dynamo.
  14. Raymond Goethals, soccer player and coach.
  15. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, film directors.
  16. Annie Cordy, singer and comedian.
  17. Marguerite Yourcenar, novelist.
  18. Amélie Nothomb, novelist.
  19. Dirk Frimout, astronaut. First Belgian in space.
  20. André Ernest Modeste Grétry, composer.
  21. Jacky Ickx, racing car driver.
  22. Luc Varenne, sports journalist.
  23. Peyo, comics artist.
  24. Salvatore Adamo, singer.
  25. Maurice Grevisse, grammarian.
  26. Albert II, Belgian king.
  27. Jules Bordet, microbiologist. Discovered the complement system and co-isolated the cause of whooping cough. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1921.
  28. Leopold I, king.
  29. Stéphane Steeman, comedian.
  30. Eugène Ysaÿe, violinist.
  31. John Cockerill, industrialist.
  32. Maurane, pop singer.
  33. Émilie Dequenne, film actress.
  34. Toots Thielemans, jazz musician.
  35. Maurice Carême, novelist and poet.
  36. Haroun Tazieff, geologist.
  37. Gerard Mercator, cartographer. Founder of modern cartography.
  38. Edith Cavell, nurse. Born in Swardeston, Norfolk and thus technically born in England.
  39. Fabiola, queen.
  40. Ambiorix, tribal chieftain who won a decisive battle against Julius Caesar.
  41. Pierre Rapsat, singer.
  42. Albert Frère, industrialist.
  43. Christine Ockrent, journalist.
  44. Gerard Mortier, opera director.
  45. Paul Delvaux, painter.
  46. Olivier Strelli, fashion designer.
  47. Jules Delhaize, industrialist. Creator of the hardware store Delhaize.
  48. Pieter Brueghel The Elder, painter.
  49. César Franck, composer.
  50. Franco Dragone, theatre director.
  51. Jaco Van Dormael, film director.
  52. André Delvaux, film director.
  53. Jules Destrée, politician and lawyer.
  54. Elisabeth, queen. Established the Queen Elisabeth Medical Foundation and the Queen Elisabeth Competition.
  55. Christiane Lenain, comedian and theatre actor.
  56. Kim Clijsters, tennis player.
  57. Emile Verhaeren, novelist and poet.
  58. Princess Astrid.
  59. Gerard Corbiau, film director.
  60. Father Pire, priest and humanitarian. Nobel Peace Prize, 1958.
  61. Jean-Michel Folon, artist.
  62. Ilya Prigogine, physical chemist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1977.
  63. Pierre Bartholomée, conductor and composer. Founded the Ensemble Musique Nouvelle and the Centre de Recherches et de Création Musicales de Wallonie.
  64. Lise Thiry, physician and politician. Developed a method of screening the AIDS virus.
  65. Jules Bastin, operatic bass singer.
  66. Django Reinhardt, jazz guitarist.
  67. Henri Vernes, novelist.
  68. Georges Lemaître, astronomer, creator of the Big Bang Theory.
  69. Morris, comics artist.
  70. Maurice Maeterlinck, novelist and playwright. Nobel Prize for Literature, 1911.
  71. Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, crown prince.
  72. Paul Vanden Boeynants, Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
  73. Arno Hintjens, rock singer.
  74. Elvis Pompilio, fashion designer.
  75. Gabrielle Petit, spy.
  76. Jean-Joseph Charlier, revolutionary.
  77. Emile Vandervelde, politician.
  78. Isabelle Gatti de Gamond, activist and feminist. Launched the first systematic courses of secondary female education.
  79. Gaston Eyskens, Prime Minister .
  80. Godfried Danneels, cardinal of Belgium.
  81. James Ensor, painter.
  82. André Renard, politician and trade unionist. Founder of the Mouvement Populaire Wallon.
  83. François Bovesse, politician. Minister of Justice and Minister of Public Education
  84. Pierre Kroll, cartoonist.
  85. Arlette Vincent, TV presenter.
  86. Gustave Boël, industrialist.
  87. Paule Herreman, TV presenter and comedian.
  88. Edgar P. Jacobs, comics artist.
  89. Jean Neuhaus, chocolate designer.
  90. Jean Roba, comics artist.