Eddy Buysen’s Exhibition of 8,000 Funeral Notices in Kalmthout

Kalmthout (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Eddy Buysen, 77 years old, from Kalmthout, collected 8,000 funeral notices over 60+ years. His exhibition (Aug 15–19) at Sint-Vincentius shows diverse notices, including Mother Teresa and Jean-Luc Dehaene.

As VRT News reported, Eddy Buysen, 77 years old, from Kalmthout, in the province of Antwerp, Belgium, has spent more than 60 years collecting funeral notices. He became interested in them at the age of 16 and never stopped. 

Over the decades, he has gathered a total of 8,000 items. From Friday, August 15, to Tuesday, August 19, 2025, a part of his collection will be on display at the Sint-Vincentius residential care centre in Kalmthout. 

The exhibition is called

“The History of the Death Notice.”

Eddy will show around one-quarter of his collection. Visitors can see how funeral notices have changed over time. The exhibition includes notices of different colours, shapes, and materials. 

What does Eddy Buysen’s exhibition of 8,000 funeral notices show?

Eddy explains that his interest goes beyond the paper itself.

“In this exhibition, I show how death notices evolved. I collect them in as many different materials, colours, and shapes as possible. The history surrounding them appeals to me,”

he explains. His collection has simple black-and-white notices as well as colourful and decorated ones. Each notice tells a story and reflects the customs and memories of past generations. 

Eddy Buysen’s collection contains obituaries of renowned individuals. Some of these well-known individuals include Mother Teresa, then Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, and cartoonist Willy Vandersteen. Asked how he acquires them, Eddy indicates that he does not go to funerals to take the notices.

“With famous people, you can get a card quite easily by writing to an acquaintance. So I collect them through connections,”

he says. 

“Except for two copies, I also have all the popes from 1799 to Pope Francis, Eddy says. I have more than 120 of the Belgian Royal Family. King Leopold was a Protestant, so there’s no obituary for him.”

Another feature is the variety of materials used for the obituaries. While most people think of funeral notices as printed on paper, Eddy has examples on parchment, porcelain, and silk. In the past, people sometimes used playing cards to print an obituary on the back when it was the only paper available at home. 

“I’ll keep going as long as my health allows,”

says Eddy.

In Antwerp, a collector organised an exhibition of vintage postcards and funeral cards from the 19th and 20th centuries. In Ghent, another project displayed letters, memorial cards, and obituaries from local families, emphasising how communities commemorated loved ones over generations. These exhibitions, like Eddy Buysen’s, focus on preserving rare, often fragile items while educating visitors about