Africa Museum, Tervuren

The museum at Tervuren was built by Leopold II and opened in 1910 to present the Congo to a Belgian public, and for most of the following century it changed very little, which made it by the 2000s an unreconstructed colonial museum still displaying its own founding assumptions. It closed in 2013 for a five-year rebuild and reopened in 2018 with a new underground entrance pavilion, a reorganised display, African advisers involved in the process, and an explicit reckoning with the museum's own history: some original statuary judged unacceptable was removed to a dedicated depot room where it is shown as evidence rather than decoration. The collections cover Central African ethnography, natural history, geology and history, and the park around the building is large.

The main sights

• The museum's own history as an exhibit - the reckoning built into the display.
• Removed colonial statuary - shown in a depot room as evidence.
• Central African ethnographic collections - masks, textiles and objects.
• The 1910 building and park - Leopold II's original palace and grounds.

When to go

Year round. Three hours. Closed Mondays. The tram from Brussels takes about forty minutes and is part of the trip. The park is worth time in good weather.

Good to know

The collection's origins are contested and the restitution question is unresolved, which the museum acknowledges without settling. Some visitors find the reckoning insufficient and others find it excessive. It is a long way out. The rebuild left some galleries thinner than before.

Nearby

The Sonian Forest runs south; Stoclet Palace is on the avenue back to the city.