The Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History (french: Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire, often abbreviated to MRA, nl, Koninklijk Museum van het Leger en de Krijgsgeschiedenis, KLM) is a military museum that occupies the two northernmost halls of the historic complex in the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. The park is set on the continuation of the Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, which starts at the end of Brussels Park before the Royal Palace.

History

Origins (–1910)

The Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark was part of a project commissioned by the Belgian Government under the patronage of King Leopold II for the 1880 ''National Exhibition'', commemorating the 50th anniversary of the

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. T ...

. In 1875, the architect Gédéon Bordiau made a proposal to build on this site; part of the so-called "Linthout" plains, the former military exercise ground of the

Garde Civique The ''Garde Civique'' or ''Burgerwacht'' (French and Dutch; "Civic Guard") was a Belgian paramilitary militia which existed between 1830 and 1920. Created in October 1830 shortly after the Belgian Revolution, the Guard amalgamated the various ...

outside of Brussels' city centre. The location was named in French (literally "Fiftieth Anniversary") and in Dutch ("Jubilee Park") because it was planned as an exhibition space to celebrate the anniversary. Parc du Cinquantenaire, 1880 National Exhibition

Parc du Cinquantenaire, 1880 National Exhibition

Temporary structures were erected on the site for the International Exposition of 1897 as Bordiau's work had not been finished. The construction of buildings was put on hold in 1890 for lack of funds and was eventually stopped by the architect's death in 1904. Work resumed the following year under the direction of the French architect Charles Girault and was completed with a new patron, King Leopold II. The triumphal arch that had already been planned was amended and expanded to meet the king's wishes. Five years later, at the Brussels International Exposition of 1910, a section on military history was presented to the public on the same premises, and was met with great success. Given the population's enthusiasm, the authorities decided to create a military museum within the international context of extreme tension which led to the Great War.

Development of the museum

The museum was created by virtue of a royal decree issued on 28 November 1911, and was originally installed on the site of La Cambre Abbey, in the former premises of the Royal Military Academy. Its collections having been considerably enriched, the institution moved in 1923 to the Cinquantenaire Park, where it gradually moved into the various buildings in the northern part of the complex. The new Royal Museum of the Armed Forces (french: Musée Royal de l'Armée, link=no, nl, Koninklijk Museum van het Leger, link=no) was inaugurated by King Albert I on 22 July 1923. It is established in the curved galleries of the northern portion of the hemicycle, as well as in the metallic halls located to the west and south of the interior garden. After the death of Albert I in 1934, the museum also took possession of part of the north pavilion of 1880, where the collection of casts of the future Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) had been established since 1886. On 9 April 1935, King Leopold III inaugurated a room there dedicated to his father and World War I. After 1945, the museum appropriated the entire pavilion; a section dedicated to Leopold III and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

is set up there, inaugurated on 10 May 1955 by King Baudouin. Two years earlier, the institution had taken the official name of the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History (french: Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire, link=no or MRA, nl, Koninklijk Museum van het Leger en de Krijgsgeschiedenis, link=no or KLM). A fire destroyed the south wing of the complex in 1946, part of the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH). The collection pieces were saved, and the burnt wing has since been rebuilt. As for the north wing, home to the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History, it was spared.

The building

The museum occupies the two northernmost halls of the Cinquantenaire: the northern Bordiau wing and the North Hall. Completed for the 1880 exhibition, like its southern counterpart, destroyed by fire in 1946 (and since rebuilt), the North Hall is the oldest building in the complex. Constructed in stone and metal, it combines classical rigor and industrial innovation in an original way. The building has a rectangular plan, marked at each corner by a projection. Set in a masonry structure, its imposing iron frame forms a single- span structure composed of eight vast arches. These are supported on the side facades by cast iron

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es with arcades on masonry buttresses. They are composed of two curved beams connected by means of metal parts forming a trellis, a motif that is found in other metal constructions of Bordiau. At the top of the roof is a saddleback

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

of which only the thin vertical walls are glazed.

Collection

The museum's collection originally consisted of approximately 900 pieces collected by the officer Louis Leconte following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Leconte collected considerable equipment abandoned by the Germans in 1918. The collection was later heavily enriched by legacies, gifts and exchanges. Important developments in the 20th century included the opening of three new Departments of Technology, Scientific Documentation and Research in 1976, followed by the armoured vehicle section in 1980, the move of the armours collection from the Halle Gate to the northernmost hall in 1986, and the opening of the naval section in 1996. Nowadays, the museum displays uniforms, weapons, vehicles and military equipment of all ages and all countries. Since 2004, the European Forum on Contemporary Conflicts has also had its headquarters in the museum.

Middle Ages

The medieval collection presents an overview of the period's offensive and defensive armament, and consists of an extensive display of weapons, shields, and banners, from the simple coat of mail to the full armour. Also included in the collection are a series of

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually di ...

s and cannons, as well as a small battering ram. File:2016-08-24 D3 4130 Q 3 O BD K1 Musee de l armee KLM MRA K2 Armure K3 K4.jpg, View of the medieval collection File:Harnas 3.jpg, Historic armours File:WikiBelMilMuseum00006.jpg,

Musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually di ...

19th century

The main gallery is dedicated to Belgian military history from 1830 to the eve of World War I, along with paintings and busts of important military figures of the time. The technical gallery is where the evolution of firearms and manufacturing processes is shown. Several of the Belgian Army's weapons, especially portable ones, since its creation, are on display. File:2016-08-24 D3 3964 Q 3 O BD K1 Musee de l armee KLM MRA K2 Salle Historique K3 K4.jpg, Main gallery, with the collection of Belgian 19th-century militaria File:Battle of Rio Nunez 1849.jpg, Belgian and French warships during the

Rio Nuñez Incident The Rio Nuñez incident or Rio Nuñez affair () was an international incident which occurred in 1849 on the Nunez river (Rio Nuñez) near Boké in modern-day Guinea. The incident occurred as a result of a local power struggle, when vessels of a j ...

Paul Jean Clays Paul Jean Clays (27 November 1819 – 10 February 1900) was a Belgian artist known for his marine paintings. Biography In 1851 he made his debut at the Paris Salon and, while he tried to stay in the mainstream, his art was heralded by those w ...

, File:Guillaume Delcourt Portrait.png, Portrait of

Guillaume Delcourt Guillaume Delcourt (31 March 1825 – 2 February 1898) was a Belgian Royal Navy officer, navigator, naval engineer and maritime advisor to King Leopold II who was one of the major players of early Belgian expansion around the world. Early li ...

, Louis Joseph Ghémar, 1854 File:Salle Napoleon photo 4.jpg, A part of the collection of historic medals

World War I

This section showcases a large concentration of uniforms, artillery pieces and vehicles. The planes of this war are exposed in the room dedicated to aviation. In this room is a Mark IV tank called ''Lodestar III'' and another Medium Mark A Whippet tank called ''Firefly''. The latter was damaged in combat. Both vehicles have the original colours of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

during World War I and it is possible to see their interior. Alongside them is a Renault FT-17 from the same period. File: Mark IV.jpg, ''Lodestar III'' Mark IV tank File: Whippet.jpg, ''Firefly'' Medium Mark A Whippet tank File: FT 17.jpg, Renault FT-17 tank

Aviation

The north wing, built by Gédéon Bordiau, has been occupied by the Aviation Hall since 1972, when the Air and Space gallery was inaugurated. The collection includes various types of aircraft, both military and civilian, some dating back to the early 20th century. It includes surviving WWI aircraft like the

Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 C.1 (or Nieuport XVII C.1 in contemporary sources) was a French sesquiplane fighter designed and manufactured by the Nieuport company during World War I. An improvement over the Nieuport 11, it was a little larger than earlier ...

and

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the ...

, whilst the most recent additions include an

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successf ...

and

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engi ...

. The collection as a whole is one of the largest in the world.Didier Palix, ''Les avions du musée de l'armée à Bruxelles'' (in French), Connaissance de l'histoire mensuel, Hachette, no 46,‎ June 1982, p. 58-63. File:Wiki Loves Art - Bruxelles - Musée royal de l'armée et de l'histoire militaire - intérieur (13).jpg, View of the aviation section in the North Hall File:Hall de l'air ph1.jpg, Aviation collection File: Hall de l'air ph11.jpg, Battaille

triplane A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are. Design principles The triplane arrangement ma ...

(1911)

Navy

Dedicated to the

Belgian Navy The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium. History Early history The Belgian Navy w ...

since its creation in 1831, this part of the museum has a section dedicated to the exploration of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. In one of the open-air courtyards, several ships of the Belgian Navy are exhibited, among them a P903 Meuse patrol boat, as well as the yacht used by King Baudouin and

Queen Fabiola Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mo ...

. File:Patrol Boat IMG 1553.jpg, P903 Meuse patrol boat (1953) File:Tucker Sno-Cat pic1.JPG, Tucker Sno-Cat, part of the

collection

Armoured vehicles

Several of the armoured vehicles that the museum holds are in rooms dedicated to WWI and WWII. Displayed in this courtyard are, among others, an M24 Chaffee, an M41 Walker Bulldog, as well as various

Leopard 1 The Leopard 1 (also styled Leopard I, before the Leopard 2 simply known as Leopard) is a main battle tank designed and produced by Porsche in West Germany that first entered service in 1965. Developed in an era when HEAT warheads were though ...

models. One of them is equipped with equipment for deep wading. File:M46Brussels.jpg,

M46 Patton The M46 Patton is an American medium tank designed to replace the M26 Pershing and M4 Sherman. It was one of the U.S Army's principal medium tanks of the early Cold War, with models in service from 1949 until the mid-1950s. It was not widely ...

tank (1952) in the outdoor collection File:Belgian paratrooper vehicle IMG 1521.jpg, Belgian 1970s' Paracommando diorama

References

Notes

External links

Official website

Brussels Air Museum

Brussels Air Museum Fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Museum Of The Armed Forces And Of Military History Museums in Brussels Museums established in 1923 Military and war museums in Belgium Aerospace museums Tank museums Cinquantenaire 1923 establishments in Belgium Organisations based in Belgium with royal patronage