Museums - Afrika Museum

In 1954, a missionary museum was created in Berg-en-Dal, where the Fathers of the Holy Spirit had acquired a property five years earlier, which was to become a place of rest for the members of their congregation. The museum’s founding addressed the desire of the Fathers to pay homage to the African cultures they had encountered and to increase awareness of these cultures in Europe. Missionaries stationed in Africa that occasionally brought back objects for the colonial exhibitions became, therefore, collectors of objects that were both evidence of religious practices and of daily life and were sometimes destined for sale in the museum’s store.
The museum owes its development to Father J.B. Van Croonenburg. He enriched the museum with his dynamism and his deep sensitivity to the artistic qualities of African sculpture. He sought to attract a broad public to admire the beauty and richness of African culture. Several other priests were also interested in these cultures that others qualified as “primitive.” Father Jan Vissers, stationed in the Cabinda area, actively fought against the destruction of the traditional objects of the Woyo and collected a group of pottery lids with figural sculptures.
The museum has been a popular success since its opening, thanks both to the excellent quality of its collection, which is considered to be the most interesting in the Netherlands, and its efforts to produce modern and attractive displays for them.
In 1987 the museum inaugurated its “museum outside its walls” display, which today consists of several reconstituted African villages, including the riverside village of Toffinou in Benin and an earthen village of the Dogon in Mali. This unique exhibit offers a clear view of the great African architectural traditions, which most institutions largely ignore.