#mw2018

The sixth day of #MuseumWeek revolves around nature and the way it has inspired humans throughout time. Our current temporary exhibition about  Wolfers Frères and Horta has quite a few art nouveau and art deco objects inspired by nature. The best known might be the Dragonfly, pictured below. In this blogpost we offer you a glimpse of several rarely seen pieces from our reserves.

Art nouveau, the style first developed by Victor Horta in 1893, was heavily inspired by nature. Just like Horta, Philippe Wolfers found based a lot of his work on plants and animals. In his summer residence Les Glycines in La Hulpe, Belgium, he was surrounded by nature. Nature, and in particular insects, was a prime and direct source of inspiration for the jewellery he made between 1902 and 1905.

A glimpse in our reserves:

Some of these jewels, like the Dragonfly, are on show in our temporary exhibition. In this blogpost we would like to show you some pieces from the Wolfers collection that are not on show at the museum. All of these drawings were made by Philippe Wolfers.

The second day of Museum Week 2018 focuses on cities and the way they have inspired painters, sculptors, architects and other artists. Since our museum is part of a landmark (the Cinquantenaire Park) in Brussels, Belgium, we feel this is a unique opportunity to share some insights in the history of the Cinquantenaire Park and its buildings.

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The Cinquantenaire Park began rather small. In 1875, the city of Brussels decides to open a park on the ‘Plains of Linthout’, a vast stretch of land outside the city where the civilian militia held its excercises every sunday.

In 1878, this small parc is enlargened up to 12 hectares. Reason: the first national ‘Trade and Industry Exhibition’, planned to be held in 1880 as a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the independence of the kingdom of Belgium (hence the name ‘Cinquantenaire’, roughly translated to ‘fiftieth year of existence’). A temporary triumphal arch in wood and plaster is erected, together with a temporary exhibitional hall.

In 1881, the parc is again enlargened up to 20 hectares with future events in mind. For the World’s Fair in 1888, the size of the parc is even further increased up to 30 hectares.

All these different exhibitions, fairs and World’s Fairs (1888,1897 and 1905) were the driving force behind the architectural development of the parc.

On the last day of #MuseumWeek we focus on differences. “How can one be Persian?” asked Montesquieu in the days of the Enlightenment, inviting his readers to think about other people with an open mind. How is difference represented in Art, Science and History? Our relationship with others shapes our connection with the world. All to often misinterpretation leads to misunderstanding, as plenty of historical examples show. 

Truly understanding ‘the other’ is often hard, even impossible. During the 19th and early 20th century, at the hight of the Western colonisation of Africa, this was not seldom made painfully clear. Unaware of their own bias and prejudice Westerners misinterpreted cultural expressions of Africans. 

Pictured above: two textiles made by Isidore and Hélène de Rudder, shown on the Colonial Exhibit in Tervuren, Belgium in 1897. These works are part of a series, ment to show the benefits of civilization brought by the colonising powers in Africa.

On the left we have Fetishism, on the right Christianity. The whole iconography of Fetishism is problematic: it is a mixture of elements and false interpretations.

The ‘fetish’ statue in the back is not a fetish, but a Ndengese statue ment to honor ancestors.

In the front the dancing sorcerer removes his mask reveiling his identity. Such a gesture would have been unseen: the sorcerer had to remain anonymous.

The third day of Museum Week is all about heritage. We are the proud keepers of a lot of Belgian archeological heritage. We’re happy to offer you a glimpse of the vast collections of prehistoric, Gallo-Roman and Merovingian material we have on display.

Our unique Merovingian and Frankish collection holds numerous objects from graves that were excavated at the end of the 19th century or in the first half of the 20th century. Most objects originate from Belgium and illustrate funerary culture, clothing, connectivity and Christianisation in the Early Mediaeval period. From an archaeological point of view this is one of the most extensive Merovingian collections from Europe.

Grave gifts reflect the status the deceased had in society, depending on the quantity, quality and the used materials (gold, silver, bronze, glass, precious stone...).  Weapons for the men, jewellery for the women and ceramics, combs and knives for both. On top of that, these objects show a connectivity with regions throughout and beyond Europe.

Merovingians

Written sources mention the Franks for the first time in the second half of the third century. They are a federation of several Germanic peoples rather than one nation. They offered military services to the Roman empire and are thus able to establish small kingdoms. A Salian dynasty, whose intial territory lay mostly in today’s Belgium, emerges from these kingdoms: the Merovingians.

The best known Merovingian king is Clovis (481-511 AD), both for his conversion to christianity and for his unification of the Frankish kingdom. He and his successors brought the areas of the Thuringians, The Alemanni and The Burgundians under Frankish rule.

Marilles brooch

The third day of Museum Week is all about heritage. We are the proud keepers of a lot of Belgian archeological heritage. We’re happy to offer you a glimpse of the vast collections of prehistoric, Gallo-Roman and Merovingian material we have on display.

After Julius Caeser conquers Gaul, Belgium becomes part of the Roman Empire. This results in a specific, interesting mix between cultures: the Gallo-Roman culture.

Our museum houses a large and unique collections of Gallo-Roman objects, most of them belonging to the elite. Lots of these objects were found in tumuli (graves). Tableware, toiletries in glass and metal, jewelry and other objects in precious metals... they were all found in the final resting places of the Gallo-Roman elite. This is also the reason why we have so many (almost) intact pieces: the graves protected not only the deceased, but also the gifts he or she took with them.

Gallic golden coins

Another important collection: coins. Our museum houses several coin treasures, both Roman and Celtic. Together with molds uses by counterfeiters they remind us of the importance, the use, the evolution and the instability of the monetary system introduces in our region by the Romans.