The Archives Service of the City of Brussels collected the messages left in front of the Bourse and at Maelbeek metro station following the terrorist attacks on 22 March 2016. It also took photographs of the messages written in chalk on the walls of the Bourse and on the ground.
The Archives Service of the City of Brussels is aware of the importance of conserving the collective memory and the way the population reacted to these dramatic events; it therefore took photographs of these messages and collected the majority of those from 22 March and 20 May 2016.
The documents were dried and cleaned, classified according to their place and date of collection and then digitised. Almost 4,000 photos and more than 2,500 digitised messages were put online.
These messages of peace, hope, solidarity and support for the victims and their families were left spontaneously by the people living in or passing through Brussels. Every generation and many different languages are represented. Their content may not be very varied, but their form is, with children's drawings, brief messages and more literary, even poetic, messages.
If the author of a message would like it to be removed for copyright reasons, or if a person would like a photograph that features them to be removed from the website, please contact us via email.
