From Africa Palace to AfricaMuseum

In 1897, King Leopold II of Belgium opened the Brussels International Exposition, which, in the Palace of the Colonies, showcased objects and people from the Congo Free State. They were displayed as the property of the King, who was the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. The Palace of the Colonies was a combination of classically inspired imperial architecture and references to the Congo. The exposition was a huge success. As a result, the King built Africa Palace, a permanent ethnographic museum dedicated to his idea of Congo. It was located adjacent to his palace in Tervuren, now a suburb outside of Brussels. In 2018, the museum reopened as AfricaMuseum. This paper examines the inherent colonial frame of AfricaMuseum, both physically and ideologically, that continue to limit a significant socio-political shift for the museum, and the contemporary art pieces by Congolese and Burundian artists that have been tasked with the heavy lifting in shifting the narrative.