Stella Rimington
The Royal museum of the Army and the Military History of Brussels is with the Cinquantenaire. The entry of the Museum is free.
The building
In 1875, the Belgian architect Gédéon Bordiau makes a proposal for the construction of houses on the site of old a Plaine of operation of the civic Garde.The layout of the Park is finally fixed in the suburbs of Etterbeek in 1888. It receives at that time the name of Cinquantenaire in remembering the success of the celebration of the jubilee of Belgian independence on this place.
The construction of the buildings is however put at the refrigerator starting from 1890 for lack of money and is definitively stopped by the death of the architect in 1904. 1905 will have to be awaited so that the work takes again under the direction of the French architect Charles Girault and is completed on levels modified to celebrate the new patron who is not other than the king Léopold II. The plan of the arches is increased to satisfy the will of the king. The park is indeed in the prolongation of the rue de la Loi which leaves the end of the Park of Brussels in front of the royal palace.
In 1946, a fire carries the Southern wing of the building.
History of the Museum
During the exposure of 1910, a section of the military history was presented to the public and met a sharp success.In front of the enthusiasm of the population, the authorities constituted a museum of the army, in an international context of extreme tension which leads to the Great War. The museum was installed initially on the site of the Abbaye of Cambers and moved on the Parc of the Fiftieth anniversary in 1923.
Collections
It consisted in the beginning of a whole of objects gathered by the officer Louis Leconte of approximately 900 parts and the collection later on was very largely enriched by legacies, gifts and exchanges.
Today still, it is possible to find collections of uniforms there, of weapons, vehicles and military materials of all times and all countries.
Recent evolutions:
- 1980 creation of the section Armor-plated .
- 1986 removal of the collection of armours of the Door of Hall to the museum.
- 1996 creation of the section Navy .
The hall aviation
The northern wing built by Gédéon Bordiau is occupied by the aeronautical hall since 1972 where the section Air and Espace is inaugurated.The exposed collection includes/understands various types of aircraft for some going back to the whole beginning of the XXe century. The collection as a whole is one of most important world.
External bonds
- Official site of the Museum
- Site of the restorations in the course of the museum
- Brussels Air Museum Foundation