Royal Museum for Central Africa
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Royal Museum for Central Africa, colloquially known as the Africa Museum, is an ethnography and natural history museum situated in Tervuren in Flemish Brabant, Belgium, just outside Brussels. It was first built to showcase King Leopold II's Congo Free State in the 1897 World Exhibition.
The museum focuses on the Congo, a former Belgian colony. The sphere of interest however (especially in biological research) extends to the whole Congo River basin, Middle Africa, East Africa and West Africa, attempting to integrate "Africa" as a whole. Intended originally as a colonial museum, from 1960 onwards it has more focused on ethnography and anthropology. Like most museums, it houses a research department in addition to its public exhibit department.
Not all research pertains to Africa (e.g. research on the archaeozoology of Sagalassos, Turkey). Some researchers have strong ties with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
In November 2013, the museum closed for renovation work (including the construction of new exhibition space) until reopening in December 2018.
See also
- Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO)
- Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference 1889–90
- Brussels Conference Act of 1890
- Archives Africaines of the Belgian SPF Affaires étrangères, Commerce extérieur et Coopération au Développement
