Royal Museum for Central Africa 1506332 224083251 2008-07-07T06:13:37Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other [[Image:Royalmuseumforcentralafrica2004.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Royal Museum for Central Africa seen from the park behind the museum.]] The '''Royal Museum for Central Africa''' (RMCA) is an [[ethnography|ethnographical]] and [[natural history]] [[museum]] in [[Tervuren]] in the suburbs of [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]]. It was first built to show off [[Leopold II of Belgium|King Leopold II's]] [[Congo Free State]] for the 1897 World Exhibition. It focuses mainly on [[Belgian Congo|Congo]], Belgium's former [[colony]]. The sphere of influence however (especially regarding to biological research) extends to the whole [[Congo River basin]], [[Middle Africa]], [[East Africa]] and [[West Africa]], but tries to integrate [[Africa]] as a whole. First purely intended as a colonial museum, after 1960 it became more focused on ethnography and [[anthropology]]. Like in most museums, there is a research department and a public exhibit department. Not all research is pertaining to Africa, for example the research on the [[archaeozoology]] of [[Sagalassos]]. Some researchers have strong ties with the [[Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences]]. ==History== After the [[Congo Free State]] was recognized by the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884-1885, [[Léopold II of Belgium|King Léopold II]] decided he had to show the potential of the country in an exhibition. Economic investors had to be attracted and the public had to know this faraway country better. After considering other places, the king decided to have the exhibition in his royal estate at Tervuren. When in 1897 the [[World Fair]] was held in [[Brussels]], a colonial section was built in Tervuren: the Palace of the Colonies. It was built by the Belgian [[architect]] [[Georges Hobé]] in [[Art Nouveau]] style, using [[Bilinga]] wood, an African tree. It displayed ethnographic objects, stuffed animals and in the "Hall of the Great Cultures" Congo's most important export products were displayed: coffee, cacao and tobacco. In the park, a copy of an African village was built, in which 60 Africans lived. The exposition was a huge success. [[Image:Museum central Africa monument Luc Viatour.jpg|monument in the park|right|thumb|300px]] In 1898 the Palace of the Colonies became the ''Musée du Congo'', and now the exhibits became permanent. It was then that the scientific research really took off. But due to the avid collecting of the scientists, the collection soon grew too large for the museum and enlargement was needed. Léopold II saw it big: he wanted not only an Africa Museum but also Chinese and Japanese pavilions, a congress centre, a World School and so forth. Tervuren became a rich suburb of Brussels. The new museum started construction in 1904 by the [[France|French]] architect [[Charles Girault]] in [[neoclassicism|neoclassical]] "palace" architecture, reminiscent of [[Petit Palais]], with large gardens extending into the Tervuren Forest, a part of the [[Sonian Forest]]. It was officially opened by [[Albert I of Belgium|King Albert I]] in 1910 and named The Museum of the Belgian Congo. In 1952 the adjective "Royal" was added. In 1957, for [[Expo '58]], a large building was constructed to receive African personnel: the ''Centre d’Accueil du Personnel Africain'' (CAPA). In 1960 the museum had its name changed to The Royal Museum for Central Africa. At present, the RMCA is struggling with modernisation. Some call it "a museum of a museum", as it shows how a museum looked like in the 1960s. More importantly, it showed a biased [[Eurocentric]] Belgicist view of Congo. For example, Expo '58 still showed a harmonious Belgian-Congolian relationship, while the country stood on the brink of independence. The most recent exhibition "The Memory of Congo" (February 4, 2005 - October 9, 2005), claimed to tell the "truth" of what happened in Belgium's colony, a very sensitive subject in Belgium. Critics of the museum include [[Adam Hochschild]], author of ''King Leopold’s Ghost'', who wrote a [[New York Review of Books]] [http://www.howardwfrench.com/archives/2005/10/26/in_the_heart_of_darkness/ article] extensively documenting what he found to be distortions and evasions in the special 2005 exhibition. ==Collections== *10,000,000 animals *250,000 rock samples *180,000 ethnographic objects *20,000 maps *56,000 wood samples *8,000 musical instruments *350 archives, including some of [[Henry Morton Stanley]]'s journals The [[herbarium]] collection of the Congo Museum was transferred to that of the [[National Botanic Garden of Belgium]] in 1934. ==Research== The scientific departments (together with the main collections) are housed in the Palace of the Colonies, the Stanley Pavilion and mainly in the CAPA building. There are 4 departments: *Department of Cultural Anthropology - Head: Jos Gansemans **Ethnography **[[Archaeology]] and [[Prehistory]] **[[Linguistics]] and [[Ethnomusicology]] **[[Ethnosociology]] and [[Ethnohistory]] *Department of [[Geology]] and [[Mineralogy]] - Head: Johan Lavreau **General Geology **Mineralogy and [[Petrography]] **[[Cartography]] and Photo interpretation **[[Physical chemistry|Physical]] and [[Mineral chemistry]] *Department of Zoology - Head: [[Michel Louette]] **[[Vertebrates]] ([[Ornithology]], [[Ichthyology]], [[Herpetology]], [[Osteology]] and [[Mammalogy]]) **[[Entomology]] **[[Invertebrates]] non-insects ([[Arachnology]], [[Myriapodology]], [[Acarology]]) *Department of [[History]] and General Scientific Services - Head: Philippe Marechal **History of the Colonial Period **Contemporary History **[[Agricultural economics|Agricultural]] and [[Forest economics]] ([[Geomorphology]], Laboratory of Wood Biology) == Trivia == *The collections in the basement of the CAPA building, of which a large part are fish, are so large that white arrows show the way to the exit. Large firedoors prevent an [[ethanol]] fire from spreading. *The [[maceration (bone)|maceration]] room is only opened friday night. *The '''44 tram line''' (Brussels-Tervuren) was built at the same time as the original museum by [[King Leopold II of Belgium]] to bring the visitors from the 1897 World Exhibition to the exhibition of the Congo in Tervuren. == Gallery == <gallery> Image:Museum central Africa institut 1 Luc Viatour.jpg Image:Museum central Africa institut 2 Luc Viatour.jpg Image:Park for Museum central Africa.jpg Image:Museum Central Africa monument 1 Luc Viatour.jpg Image:Museum Central Africa monument 2 Luc Viatour.jpg Image:Museum central Africa Sphinx Luc Viatour.jpg Image:Museum Central Africa monument 4 Luc Viatour.jpg Image:Museum Central Africa monument 3 Luc Viatour.jpg Image:Museum Central Africa monument 5 Luc Viatour.jpg </gallery> ==See also== * [[BELSPO|Belgian Federal Science Policy Office]] (BELSPO) == External links == {{Commons| Category:Royal Museum for Central Africa}} *[http://www.africamuseum.be Official museum site] *[http://music.africamuseum.be/ Collection etnomusicology] *[http://treekee.com/tervuren/en/wiki/Royal_Museum_for_Central_Africa Tervuren wiki page on the museum] *[http://www.civilization.ca/cultur/tervuren/terb01bf.html Mémoires des Rites ]Populations of Central Africa-in French but excellent pictures of ethnographic material from RMCA Tervuren. *[http://projects.bebif.be/enbi/albertinerift/common/ Albertine Rift Project] To access the many excellent pictures Pick a group (bird, butterfly fish) in top menu then go to the taxa list . Click on the species name if a photo is indicated by a camera pic on the right. {{coor title dms|50|49|51.20|N|4|31|6.59|E|type:landmark}} [[Category:Museums in Brussels]] [[Category:Natural history museums]] [[de:Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale]] [[fr:Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale]] [[nl:Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika]]