AfricaMuseum has already had 240,000 visitors through its doors
On 8 December 2018, the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren – the former Royal Museum for Central Africa – re-opened, after five years of radical renovation and restoration works. We reported extensively on this in an FOB article on 21 December 2018.
The new concept has turned out to be a real crowd-pleaser. Since the re-opening, no less than a quarter of a million interested people have found their way to the rich, unique and varied collections on the natural and social sciences, for which the AfricaMuseum enjoys worldwide recognition. This is an average of 9,000 visitors per week, or almost four times as many as before the renovation. The museum building only has room for the collections now, meaning the total exhibition area has almost doubled, from 6,000m² before to 11,000m² now. All public facilities have now been housed in the new visitor pavilion: entrance, reception desk, museum shop, restaurant, cafeteria, picnic area for children, cloakrooms, etc.
At the Publica Awards, the prizes for the best public sector projects, this renovation project won first prize in the Heritage & Architecture category.