RMCA
Leuvensesteenweg 13
3080 Tervuren - Belgium
Tel. (+32) 02 769 52 11
Fax (+32) 02 769 52 42

Opening hours museum
Tuesday through Friday *:
from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday *:
from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
*even if public holiday

Closed
Every Monday (even if public holiday)
On 1 January, 1 May  and 25 December
On 24 and 31 December as from 3 p.m. on

 

History

Leopold II and his colony

Leopold II and the colony’s origin


The Museum’s history begins with King Leopold II. He was convinced that his small country, which industrialized rapidly between 1865 and 1880, required a colony to support its industrial expansion.

Leopold II employed Henry Morton Stanley, who had found Livingstone in 1872 and sailed the entire course of the Congo River in 1874-1877. The UK showed no interest in Stanley, but Leopold II recruited him to further explore Central Africa on his behalf. Stanley’s service to the king helped lead to the recognition of the Congo Free State at the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference

A Colonial Palace showcase
 

To promote Belgium’s work of ‘development and civilization’ in Congo, and the latter’s economic potential, Leopold II hoped to build some form of museum or ‘showcase’.

The original plan consisted of adding a colonial wing to the Natural History Museum and to 50th Anniversary Park, both in Brussels. When these plans were not carried out quickly enough, the king opted for an exhibition at his royal estate in Tervuren, an area he had known very well as a young prince and Duke of Brabant.

> read more: From Congo Museum to RMCA

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