BRUSSELS ROYAL MUSEUM OF THE ARMED FORCES
Belgian Army Museum and Military History in Jubilee Park
The
lands which make up modern day Belgium have throughout history been
the battleground
of northern Europe, where the plains of the Dutch
lowlands meet the rolling hills of northern France and the
easiest route from Germany's Rhine River to Paris. From the
Wars of European Succession to the boots
of Napoleon (see Waterloo
Battlefield Museums), the trenches of World
War I and the battle through the Ardennes forest, the “bulge” in
World War II. It’s no wonder here would be one of Europe’s
great collections of military artifacts. For the arms and armor enthusiast
or military historian visiting the killing fields of Flanders (see Touring
Flanders Fields) or the sites of the Ardennes (Battle
of the Bulge WWII), the Royal
Museum of the Armed Forces in Brussels is well worth a visit.
Belgium
became an independent country after the revolution of 1830. Fifty years
later
King Leopold II, who had a vision of turning his capital
of Brussels into a city to rival Paris, commissioned architect Gédéon
Bordiau to create an exhibition hall complex to celebrate the anniversary.
The halls were built in the midst of a field which once served as military
training grounds and in 1888 the grounds were named as the Jubilee Park
(or Fiftieth Anniversary Park - Parc du Cinquantenaire) with the building
of a triumph arch looking back toward the heart of the city, with the
Jubilee Palace Halls in the park completed in 1910, with arms and military
history items presented as part of the 1910 World Exhibition. After World
War I and the Second World War the collection of the original Belgian
Army Museum grew to bulging, filling other halls and even the courtyards.
The collection of
almost 100,000 items, features weapons, uniforms, busts and paintings,
as well as tanks, airplanes, and even ships, in
wings covering the Austrian ruled Netherlands until the Brabant Revolution
of 1789, the Napoleonic Era, 19th Century Belgium of two kings until
the revolution, and the First World War. Flying balloons and biplanes,
as well as supersonic fighters fill the giant iron and glass Aviation
Hall, tanks from two wars and modern conflicts line the inner courtyard.
If you want to see a rare early tank from the muddy trenches of the “Great
War”, here is where you’ll find one. 
The more unique exhibits
are from the European conflicts of the 18th and 19th Centuries. This
place doesn't have the modern gizmos of computer screens and interactive
displays that make up the design thinking of more recent museums fighting
to entertain, just a remarkable collection of actual arms, armor and
uniforms everywhere you look. King Leopold may have wanted his capital
to rival Paris, the result of his military collection, one of the world’s
largest, certainly does rival the French Army Museum in Paris (see Army
Museum at the Invalides).
For research,
the museum library has a large collection of books and military periodicals,
with an archives or original historical documents,
and the map room holds a collection of military operations in Belgium
from Austrian days to the conflicts from 1914 to 1945. The portrait gallery
has an impressive array of military officers and campains crowing the
walls, among the swords and uniforms in the display cases.
Visiting the Belgian Royal Army Museum
Admission
to the museum is free of charge, with an audio guide to be rented for €3.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9m to noon and 1pm to
4:45pm.
They close an a hour for lunch, except the
Aviation Hall remains open all day. The Jubilee Park is to the east
of the city center beyond the new European Union offices district.
The subway
stop of Merode is behind the hall while the Schuman stop leads for a
walk through the park and under the triumph arch. Tram numbers 81 and
82 lead to the park as well as several bus lines. A visit to the Belgian
Army Museum can be combined with the Autoworld Car Collection of the
Museum of Fine Arts (see Autoworld Belgium), which is housed across the
park plaza in the opposite wing of the Jubilee Park palaces, also free. © Bargain
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SEE ALSO:
PASSCHENDAELE 1917 MEMORIAL MUSEUM
NAPOLEON MILITARY UNIFORMS - FONTAINEBLEAU
