Too ‘stereotypical’, is the opinion of the management of the Africa Museum in Berg en Dal of the reconstructed African villages on the grounds of the museum in Nijmegen. Those villages are part of a discussion about the future of the museum that has been raging for years, and seems to have concrete consequences in the short term. The museum may close at the end of November.
That is what the management of the National Museum of World Cultures (NMVW) wants, of which the Africa Museum is a part. Daily newspaper The Gelderlander reported Friday about the proposed closure.
This intention follows years of disagreement about the course and collection of the Africa Museum, between the NMVW and the fathers who founded the museum in the 1950s and who still own the building and grounds in the hills near Nijmegen.
Due to this protracted conflict, both parties already decided to part ways: the lease runs until the end of 2024. But the fathers disagree with an early closure, and the disagreement has now become so intense that the parties communicate with each other through their lawyers .
“We would only have liked to have announced this when there was clarity,” emphasizes Marieke van Bommel, general director of the NMVW. “We want to close now for a number of reasons. We want to complete this well for our employees and our collection, and we ask ourselves: what can we still account for in terms of content?”
The Africa Museum in Berg en Dal manages a collection of more than eight thousand objects, which has been built up from a collection that missionaries brought with them, in particular from Tanzania, Angola, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Since the 1980s, the museum has had a large outdoor area with reconstructed African ‘residential areas’.
The collection is handled carelessly: What will happen to the Africa Museum?
In recent years, the handling of the collection has driven such a wedge between the museum management and the fathers that both parties want to get rid of each other. “There were doubts about the quality of the National Museum. About the way in which they handled the collection and their objectives”, says representative Carel Verdonschot of the Congregation. At the same time, there is disagreement about the ownership of the collection: which part is national heritage, which part belongs to the Congregation?
‘Global Citizenship’
The Africa Museum was an independent museum until 2014, when it merged with the Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden and the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam to form the NMVW. The NMVW is largely funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and manages a national collection.
The NMVW museums want to ‘inspire visitors to global citizenship’. In 2019, part of the permanent display of the Africa Museum was renewed for this purpose: ‘Inspiring Africa’ has since been showing modern art and design. After that, the museum wanted to tackle the permanent exhibition with ethnographic objects, and also the museum park with villages.
“It should be more in the contemporary context. Away from the stereotype,” says Van Bommel, who has been director of the NMVW and the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam since 2021. No decision had yet been made about the future of the villages. “Tearing down may have been a mindset, but you could also have contemporary African architects give a vision of it.”
Activists take Congolese figurine from Africa Museum
Around 2019, however, a disagreement arose between the museum and the owners of the estate. The Congregation of the Holy Spirit – the Spiritans – consists of about forty priests: former Dutch missionaries who are now in their eighties, and African fellow believers who continue their parish work.
A lot happened at once when the disagreement arose in 2019, and the parties disagree about what exactly happened. In any case, the Congregation was looking for a new owner for the estate. The museum was to remain there, but the Congregation did consider selling part of the collection. That plan ultimately fell through (although two pieces were sold), but during those consultations the relationship came to be at stake to such an extent that it was decided to terminate the museum’s lease on 31 December 2024.
There was a discussion with the NMVW about the course of the museum, says representative Carel Verdonschot of the Congregation. “The aim of the collaboration was to maintain three authentic museums [de drie NMVW-musea, HvS]. If you then decide: I only want two museums, or I only want a cheap exhibition location: that is not the way the agreements were made.”
‘negative ratio’
However, the Congregation was particularly dissatisfied with the management of the collection. That was “not what you expect from a professional museum”. The NMVW “does not share the opinion” that it was careless with the collection and buildings, director Van Bommel responds. In any case, the museum is now so far that it is “looking into whether it is not better to put a full stop”. she says. That is why she wants to close the doors of the Africa Museum in November. “How long will we linger in this negative relationship?”
A break seems inevitable. The NMVW is looking for a new location in the region for a “world museum that has a broader scope than just the continent of Africa”.
The Africa Museum wants to continue independently, taking the collection with it. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, which owns the national collection, confirms that discussions are ongoing about this and that mediation has been offered.
The Congregation wants the ministry to recognize the Africa Museum’s ownership of the collection – including the villages, says Verdonschot. “The collection was collected with a clear purpose. The indoor and outdoor museum have a direct relationship with each other. That is one big museum piece. We would like to keep them together in order to highlight current themes.”
The Congregation is heading for a lawsuit, he acknowledges. “I have to find new financiers for an independent museum. I benefit from clarity quickly.”