There have been certain changes made in recent years to the museum in order to curb some of the criticisms, but the Royal Museum is still a celebration of the Belgium's 'achievment' against the
African 'savages'. Large gilded personifications of kindly Belgians bringing peace,
prosperity and civilization to the grateful Congolese abound throughout its halls and galleries. Most prominent is the statue of Leopold clutching Congolese children to his breast as if he is/was some kind of father figure, or even a kind of savior, of the Congo and its people. This is an image rejected by many Congolese people, but one whose legacy they have not been able to escape.
Monday, December 9, 2013
King Leopold
When walking into the "Royal Museum of Central Africa" in Brussels, Belgium a person is in effect stepping back in time, the late 1800s or early part of the twentieth century to be exact. It does not take a person long to come to the conclusion that the overall message being conveyed here is that Belgium's involvement in the Congo, both king Leopold's Free Congo State and the post-Leopold Belgian Congo, was philanthropic as opposed to the raping and pillaging murder-state that it was.
There have been certain changes made in recent years to the museum in order to curb some of the criticisms, but the Royal Museum is still a celebration of the Belgium's 'achievment' against the
African 'savages'. Large gilded personifications of kindly Belgians bringing peace,
prosperity and civilization to the grateful Congolese abound throughout its halls and galleries. Most prominent is the statue of Leopold clutching Congolese children to his breast as if he is/was some kind of father figure, or even a kind of savior, of the Congo and its people. This is an image rejected by many Congolese people, but one whose legacy they have not been able to escape.
There have been certain changes made in recent years to the museum in order to curb some of the criticisms, but the Royal Museum is still a celebration of the Belgium's 'achievment' against the
African 'savages'. Large gilded personifications of kindly Belgians bringing peace,
prosperity and civilization to the grateful Congolese abound throughout its halls and galleries. Most prominent is the statue of Leopold clutching Congolese children to his breast as if he is/was some kind of father figure, or even a kind of savior, of the Congo and its people. This is an image rejected by many Congolese people, but one whose legacy they have not been able to escape.
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