Yesterday we went to the African Museum in Tervuren. The trip to the museum is via tram 44, which travels through the forest - the tram journey alone makes it worthwhile. When we lived in Brussels, the boys had Wednesday afternoons free, so we often used to make the trip to this museum as both Pierre and Daniel loved it so much, together with the tram experience. The journey itself was an adventure, heading into the dark forest to emerge into the lightness of Tervuren and the Museum.
The Museum itself is a product of colonial exploitation, which is one of the reasons I couldn't bring myself to take pictures - all those stuffed animals in glass cases. In the past it was Belgium trumpeting its colonial triumphs, but today this has been toned down somewhat and there are some indications of apologies and reconciliation. For example, there is a wall of names of Belgians who died during one of the inevitable conflicts in the Congo, but not a single name of a Congolese who died during the conflict. Of course none of these have been recorded and not even the numbers are known with any accuracy, so to redress this somewhat there is a changing Powerpoint slide on the wall below which asks, in three languages "where are the names of the Congolese?" Possible numbers are indicated by crosses which appear and disappear on the slide. It is quite poignant, though my words can't express it adequately.
The only pictures I took were of the huge boat fashioned out of a single tree, which of course to my mind looks like a giant dragon boat designed for 100 paddles. The main difference is that the paddles also serve as spears, which could come in handy at the end of a race!
If you want to know more about the Africa Museum, see http://www.africamuseum.be/home
The Museum itself is a product of colonial exploitation, which is one of the reasons I couldn't bring myself to take pictures - all those stuffed animals in glass cases. In the past it was Belgium trumpeting its colonial triumphs, but today this has been toned down somewhat and there are some indications of apologies and reconciliation. For example, there is a wall of names of Belgians who died during one of the inevitable conflicts in the Congo, but not a single name of a Congolese who died during the conflict. Of course none of these have been recorded and not even the numbers are known with any accuracy, so to redress this somewhat there is a changing Powerpoint slide on the wall below which asks, in three languages "where are the names of the Congolese?" Possible numbers are indicated by crosses which appear and disappear on the slide. It is quite poignant, though my words can't express it adequately.
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| dragon boat with spears as paddles? |
If you want to know more about the Africa Museum, see http://www.africamuseum.be/home
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