History
After the Congo Free State was recognized by the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, 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 the 1897 International Exposition was held in Brussels, a colonial section was built in Tervuren with two new transport connections to Brussels city centre, the Avenue de Tervuren and the tramway line. 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. The colonial section was hosted in the Palace of the Colonies (although there was only the one colony). It was designed by the Belgian architect Albert-Philippe Aldophe. In the main hall Georges Hobé designed a distinctive wooden Art Nouveau structure to evoke the forest, using Bilinga wood, an African tree. The exhibition 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.
In 1898 the Palace of the Colonies became the Musée du Congo, and 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 French architect Charles Girault in 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 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.
Read more about this topic: Royal Museum For Central Africa
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