← 1877 1876 1875 1878 in Belgium → 1879 1880 1881
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	Other events of 1878 List of years in Belgium

The following lists events that happened during 1878 in the Kingdom of Belgium.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Leopold II^[1]
• Prime Minister: Jules Malou (to 19 June); Walthère Frère-Orban (from 19 June)

Events

• May to November – Belgium participates in the Paris Universal Exhibition.^[2]
• 27 May – Provincial elections
• 11-18 June – Partial legislative elections of 1878 (first with voting booths to ensure a secret ballot)
• 19 June – Walthère Frère-Orban replaces Jules Malou as Prime Minister
• 22-25 August – Twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations of King Leopold II and Queen Marie-Henriette, including a parade of 23,000 school children on 23 August.
• 13 November – Jules Guillery succeeds as Charles Rogier as Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives

Publications

Periodicals

• Almanach de Poche de Bruxelles (Brussels, H. Manceaux)^[3]
• Annuaire de l'Observatoire royal de Bruxelles, 46 (Brussels, F. Hayez)^[4]
• Annuaire du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, 2 (Brussels, Librairie Européenne C. Muquardt)^[5]
• Bulletin de la Société belge de géographie, 2 (Brussels, Secrétariat de la Société Belge de Géographie)^[6]
• Bulletins de l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, 47 (Brussels, M. Hayez).^[7]
• Le Moniteur Belge.^[8]
• Revue de l'horticulture belge et étrangère (Ghent, Bureaux de la Revue)^[9]
• Revue du notariat belge, 4 (Brussels, Bureau de la Revue)^[10]

Books

• Hendrik Conscience, De Schat van Felix Roobeek
• Henri Guillaume, Histoire de l'infanterie wallonne sous la maison d'Espagne, 1500–1800 (Brussels, Académie Royale)^[11]

Art and architecture

Buildings

• Great Synagogue of Brussels completed

Paintings

• Félicien Rops, Pornocrates

Births

• 18 January – Henri Baels, politician (died 1951)
• 19 February – Henri Carton de Tournai, politician (died 1969)
• 5 March – Gaston Salmon, fencer (died 1917)
• 10 March – Karel van de Woestijne, author (died 1929)
• 16 March – Émile Cammaerts, author (died 1953)
• 29 March – Jules Pire, resistance leader (died 1953)
• 14 April – August Borms, quisling (died 1946)
• 23 June – Gustave Strauven, architect (died 1919)
• 1 July – Joseph Maréchal, Jesuit (died 1944)
• 5 July – Jean de Bosschère, writer and painter (died 1953)
• 6 July – Charles Terlinden, historian (died 1972)
• 15 July – Hendrik De Vocht, scholar (died 1962)
• 13 September – Oscar Joliet, bishop (died 1969)
• 20 November – Joseph-Marie Canivez, Trappist (died 1952)

Deaths

• 18 January – Frans de Cort (born 1834), writer
• 9 July – Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier (born 1797), botanist and politician
• 7 August – Joseph Gustave Ernest Allard (born 1840), politician
• 16 November – Charles Vilain XIIII (born 1803), politician