Famous art collections will be disbanded and scattered around the globe if Belgium breaks up, the country's museum authorities have warned.
A surreal squabble between French and Flemish speakers has broken out over museum spoils, including dinosaur bones and Scottish bagpipes.
Belgium's Federal Science Policy Office (FSPO), which oversees museums and galleries, is preparing for a "disaster" scenario under which work has to be sent abroad or scattered around the country, if the two sides can't live together.
Politicians have been unable to form a government since elections in June, and many think the federation is on its last legs.
Removing paintings by Paul Delvaux or Rene Magritte from the Brussels museum of fine arts and sending them to the artists' home towns is one contingency being considered.
But there are issues with the non-Belgian masterpieces on display in the Royal Museum for Central Africa, which is on Flemish land,
but only just outside French-speaking Brussels.
The Flemish regional culture minister Bert Anciaux has said that he would rather the whole collection was sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium's former colony, than shared with the francophone community.
On the francophone side, senator François Roelants du Vivier called this "intolerable".
"These museums belong to all Belgians and some of the art was on display before 1830," he said. "Returning artwork to the Congo would be a nightmare. Belgium was the pioneer in giving back artefacts, but six months later, all the pieces were for sale on the international market."
The FSPO admits that the two linguistic groups cannot get along well enough to manage an art collection.
"There is no alternative to the federal system and no future for the museums without Belgium," said spokesman Pierre Demoitié.
"Joint management between the francophone and Flemish communities will not work because the Flemish side has much more money and, in the end, those who pay will naturally take over."
A surreal squabble between French and Flemish speakers has broken out over museum spoils, including dinosaur bones and Scottish bagpipes.
Belgium's Federal Science Policy Office (FSPO), which oversees museums and galleries, is preparing for a "disaster" scenario under which work has to be sent abroad or scattered around the country, if the two sides can't live together.
Politicians have been unable to form a government since elections in June, and many think the federation is on its last legs.
Removing paintings by Paul Delvaux or Rene Magritte from the Brussels museum of fine arts and sending them to the artists' home towns is one contingency being considered.
But there are issues with the non-Belgian masterpieces on display in the Royal Museum for Central Africa, which is on Flemish land,
but only just outside French-speaking Brussels.
The Flemish regional culture minister Bert Anciaux has said that he would rather the whole collection was sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium's former colony, than shared with the francophone community.
On the francophone side, senator François Roelants du Vivier called this "intolerable".
"These museums belong to all Belgians and some of the art was on display before 1830," he said. "Returning artwork to the Congo would be a nightmare. Belgium was the pioneer in giving back artefacts, but six months later, all the pieces were for sale on the international market."
The FSPO admits that the two linguistic groups cannot get along well enough to manage an art collection.
"There is no alternative to the federal system and no future for the museums without Belgium," said spokesman Pierre Demoitié.
"Joint management between the francophone and Flemish communities will not work because the Flemish side has much more money and, in the end, those who pay will naturally take over."
