Alone, historic and worthwhile figures In Antwerp

A visit to the internationally-famed Ethnographic Museum is like a journey that enables you to explore the art, ingenuity and wisdom of the peoples of the earth, or, in other words, the riches of the most diverse cultures.

Although an important part of its collections dates from the middle of the 19th century, the Ethnographic Museum is one of the most recent museums of the City of Antwerp. The Antwerp harbour and the ships that arrived there from all over the world have played a significant role. At the beginning of the 20th century, Congolese objects were added to the existing collections from South America and the Far East. The Belgian expedition to the Ivory Coast in 1939 initiated the revival of the ethnographic collections. The total collection, which was started in 1864, now comprises some 33,000 objects and it is still constantly being added to. Highlights include masks and other wooden sculptures from Africa, feather headdresses from the Amazon, pre-Columbian pottery, sculptures from India and bronze and scroll paintings from the Himalayas.-

The museum also has a very varied collection of textiles from every corner of the world. Some of the pieces are absolutely unique.
The African division shows a selection of mainly Central and West African cultures. Antwerp Harbour and overseas trade contacts are also important. Stimulated, among other things, by European avant-garde artists, the interest in African art developed as from the beginning of the 20th century.