← 1880 1879 1878 1881 in Belgium → 1882 1883 1884
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
See also:	Other events of 1881 List of years in Belgium

The following lists events that happened during 1881 in the Kingdom of Belgium.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Leopold II^[1]
• Prime Minister:Walthère Frère-Orban

Events

• 10 May – Princess Stéphanie of Belgium marries Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, in the Augustinian Church, Vienna.
• 8 September – Isidore-Joseph du Rousseaux performs the canonical coronation of Our Lady of Tongre in Chièvres, mandated in a papal brief of Pope Leo XIII.

Publications

Periodicals

• L'Art Moderne begins publication.^[2]

Books

• Exposition de l'art ancien au Pays de Liège: Catalogue officiel (Liège, L. Grandmont-Donders)^[3]
• A Handbook for Travellers in Holland and Belgium (London, John Murray).^[4]
• Alfred Giron, Le droit administratif de la Belgique (Brussels, Bruylant-Christophe)^[5]
• François Nizet, Voyage de Bruxelles à Aix-la-Chapelle: Excursions de Sa Majesté la Reine des Belges (Brussels)^[6]

Art and architecture

Buildings

• Adolphe Vanderheggen, Halles Saint-Géry (Brussels)

Births

• 15 January – Maurice Corneil de Thoran, musician (died 1953)
• 6 February – Huib Hoste, architect (died 1957)
• 28 February – Geo Verbanck, sculptor (died 1961)
• 17 March – Raoul Daufresne de la Chevalerie, sportsman and soldier (died 1967)
• 12 March – Henri Grégoire, scholar and translator (died 1964)
• 12 April – François Poels, trade unionist (died 1926)
• 28 July – Léon Spilliaert, artist (died 1946)

Deaths

• 6 June – Henri Vieuxtemps (born 1820), composer
• 27 July – François-Joseph Scohy (born 1831), archaeologist
• 7 November – Auguste Vander Meersch (born 1810), biographer
• 12 November – Jan Michiel Ruyten (born 1813), artist
• 28 December – André-Eugène Pirson (born 1817), banker and politician