On Tuesday 12 March, Flanders launched FAAM, the Flanders All Around Museum. FAAM is a virtual museum, to be browsed on your browser or via the FAAM app. The acronym FAAM is also a word in Dutch, meaning ‘fame’ or notoriety. 

FAAM was first coined to be the new name of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp (RMFAA or KMSKA). The acronym would have been Flanders Antwerp Art Museum. As you can guess, the meaning of the letters was coined after the acronym was born.

“Over the past three years, together with various partners, we have done everything we can to build Flanders’ largest virtual museum: the broad heritage sector in Flanders (including immovable heritage), Digitaal Vlaanderen, the creative and digital sector and the emerging talent in a number of schools . We would like to thank everyone who contributed”, the Flemish Department of Culture, Youth and Media says. 

The future of FAAM

The story of FAAM does not end here, of course. “Together with all partners, and with the heritage sector in particular, we want to further expand FAAM through new inspiring heritage experiences. In this way, FAAM wants to continue to fascinate people and show them the way to the rich heritage offering throughout Flanders.

How can FAAM put your heritage in the spotlight?

“Together with the launch on, a major promotional campaign will start to draw attention to FAAM. To continually add new signposts to your heritage, we are planning several provincial editorial workshops in the coming months. During those workshops we will explore new stories and themes and discuss how we can facilitate our collaboration. You will find all information about future meetings and meeting times on the project website.”

21st century

“We live in the 21st century. Then the choice for a digital museum is actually quite obvious,” Jan Jambon (N-VA), Minister-President of Flanders and Flemish Minister for Culture says on his website. 

The virtual museum of Flanders is the third part of a triptych to reveal Flemish heritage and culture. It started with the successful television documentary series ‘The Story of Flanders‘, which was widely followed by the ‘Canon of Flanders‘.

Constantly expanded

The FAAM is designed as a digital museum, accessible via an app or a website: FAAM.Vlaanderen. 

The project was started in 2021 within the Flemish Department of Culture, Youth and Media in collaboration with heritage organisations, students from Howest and Thomas More, and a number of tech companies. FAAM is not yet a finished product. This is the first version of the project, which will be continuously expanded.

Finally in Flanders

“Wherever in the world you will often find a museum of the history and culture of that country or region. We in Flanders did not have that yet”, Jan Jambon argues

“If you start with that, you have to build or buy a building. But above all you have to take that collection from other museums. Museums don’t like to participate in that. So we said, we live in the 21st century, let’s make it virtual.”

From Golden Spurs to the mammoth of Dendermonde

“We take young and old on an interactive journey to discover the rich range of Flemish history and heritage stories. I am not exaggerating when I say that Flanders is positioning itself as a pioneer in cultural experience with this museum. The museum offers something for everyone: from well-known stories, such as the 1302 Battle of the Golden Spurs, to lesser-known and surprising stories, such as the mammoth of Dendermonde“,  Jambon said at the presentation.

Special meaning

“This project has a special meaning for me. Two pillars of my policy come together here: on the one hand, the repositioning of Flanders and the inclusive disclosure of Flemish history in an ever-changing world and, on the other hand, the technological innovation that is indispensable in that changing world. If we as Flemish people want to gain a place in that world, we must pay attention to both, to culture and digitalization, to heritage and innovation. The choice for a virtual museum was therefore not random, but deliberate”, Jambon concludes.

A first glance

Faam.Vlaanderen is only available in Dutch. At least for now. Te full url being https://www.faam.vlaanderen/nl, one can expect an English (/en), French (/fr) and German (/de) version. Perhaps a Spanish version (/es) could be nice. 

FAAM uses topics such as ‘Eating and Drinking’, ‘Living Together’, ‘Fun’, ‘Living’, ‘Working’, ‘Games’ etc. There’s an augmented reality tool, but that only works on the app. 

FAAM compiles heritage of Flanders and shows you the way to the actual museums and heritage sights. 

FAAM fits well in the nationalist narrative so much loved by N-VA. The minister is happy. 

But while FAAM is well conceived, I fear it will be one of those apps I have on my phone but never actually use.