The Africa Museum ( nl, Afrika Museum) is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

in Berg en Dal in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The museum on the outskirts of the city of

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

is a complex with indoor as well as open-air display areas, covering art, culture, music, photographs, videos and architecture of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. As of 2014, the museum, along with the

Tropenmuseum The Tropenmuseum ( en, Museum of the Tropics) is an ethnographic museum located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1864. One of the largest museums in Amsterdam, the museum accommodates eight permanent exhibitions and an ongoing series of tem ...

in Amsterdam, and National Museum of Ethnology (Museum Volkenkunde) in Leiden, together make up the National Museum of World Cultures.

Collection

Apart from displaying traditional historic sculptures, the museum focuses on exhibiting contemporary art produced in Africa and the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

such as North and South America and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, especially on the islands of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

. The section on religion and society displays artefacts regarding the cycle of life, healing, fighting off the evil. Outside, the visitors can experience rebuilt African architecture such as a Kusasi compound from

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, a

Dogon Dogon may refer to: *Dogon people, an ethnic group living in the central plateau region of Mali, in West Africa *Dogon languages, a small, close-knit language family spoken by the Dogon people of Mali *'' Dogon A.D.'', an album by saxophonist Juliu ...

clay building village from

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

and river-side pile dwellings from

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

History

The museum was founded in 1954 as a missionary museum, five years after the Fathers of the Holy Spirit had acquired a property, which was to become a place of rest for the members of their congregation. With the museum they wanted to pay homage to the African cultures they had encountered and increase awareness of these cultures in Europe. While being stationed in Africa they had occasionally obtained objects for colonial exhibitions and collected objects that were both evidence of religious practices and of daily life and were sometimes destined for sale in the museum's store.Tribal Art Magazine
/ref> Father J.B. Van Croonenburg had a deep sensitivity to the artistic qualities of African sculpture and wanted to attract a broader public to understand the beauty and richness of African culture. Several priests admired the quality of these cultural objects that others qualified as “primitive”. Father Jan Vissers objected in the Cabinda area against the destruction of the traditional objects of the

Woyo Ngoyo was an Iron Age kingdom state of the Woyo ethnic group, located in the south of Cabinda (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola). Located on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, just north of the Congo River, it was f ...

and collected a group of pottery lids with figural sculptures. In 1987 the museum opened its outdoor exhibition, which now consists of several reconstituted African villages.

Indoor exhibition

Beeld (1), Senufo, Ivoorkust. Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, Nr. 43-9.JPG, Senufo sculpture,

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

Masker, Mau, Ivoorkust. Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, Nr. 673-5.JPG, Mau mask, Ivory Coast Masker, Ekpo. Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, Nr. 465-1.JPG, Ekpo mask Beeld van Moeder-en-Kind. Magbetu, Dem. Rep. Congo. Hout, kralen. Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, Nr. 154-1.JPG, Magbetu, Congo Grafsteen, Mbamba, Angola. Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, Nr. 29-21.jpg, Mbamba grave stone,

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Beeld. Hout. Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal.JPG, Wooden sculpture

Outdoor exhibition

Schmiede im Nachbau eines Dogon-Dorfs im Afrika-Museums in Berg en Dahl.JPG, Dogon house Afrika museum - Berg en Dal - panoramio - Rokus Cornelis (24).jpg, Houses with murals Afrika museum - Berg en Dal - panoramio - Rokus Cornelis (19).jpg, Tower Afrika museum - Berg en Dal - panoramio - Rokus Cornelis (8).jpg, African village Rebuilt village of Baka Pygmies in Africa Museum, Berg en Dal, NL.JPG, Baka Pygmies village

References

External links