Brussels, 4 November 2013
Brussel’s Africa museum is to close its doors on 30 November 2013, and plans to re-open in mid-2017, with the world’s “last” colonial museum hoping to establish a new image.
Located in the Brussels suburb of Tervuren, The Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), is to use the time that it is closed to alter the image of the museum, which is housed in a castle, built in the early 20th century by King Léopold II. “This museum shows how the white man saw Africa a century ago, at a time of triumphant colonisation”, commented Joseph Djongakodi Yoto, who heads a committee of Africa diaspora groups, innvolved in the museum’s renovation.
The names of 1,500 Belgians who died in the Congo are inscribed on a large plaque; Yoto highlighted the absence of Congolese names on the – “not even those who died fighting for Belgium during the two world wars”.
“It is easy to understand why we are considered as the last colonial museum”, explained Guido Gryseels, director of the MRAC: “Very little has changed since its opening in 1910, and it was last renovated in 1958.”
According to magazine Le Point, “The enormous neoclassical building has retained the quaint charms of the museums of yesteryear, with its poorly-lit display cases, stuffed animals and creaky parquet floors.”
The museum, which attracts 130,000 visitors annually, has a large permanent collection which includes 150,000 ethnographic objects. Pieces featured in its collection include a statue of the leopardman, to which Hergé made references to in Tintin au Congo.