The first time I went to the Cinquantenaire Museum in Brussels was many years ago. It was still a bit of a dusty and poorly curated place then. And as I wandered through the imposing rooms with their creaking parquet flooring I ended up in the Oceania section where I came across an original Easter Island statue. What I saw made me forget the faded and lopsided descriptions. I was enthralled by this gigantic sculpture.
It was an eerie atmosphere, just me and this huge stone sculpture alone in a windowless room at the very back of a museum. The stuff movies are made of, wouldn't you say?
Well, the “Musees Royaux d’Art et d'Histoire", which is its more formal title, has come a long way since then. It has shaken off the dust and now shines by putting on excellently curated exhibitions, displaying art and artefacts that it has long been holding in its storage rooms.
When I saw that they have put on an exhibition called 'Oceania' I couldn't wait to go and see it. The Easter Islands have been given pride of place on the leaflet. And my old friend, Stonehead, described as a representation of the god of tuna fishers, despite still keeping his place in the entrails of the museum, is now well documented, lit and visited. You’d have to catch a really quiet moment to spend some time alone with him.
The entire exhibition is well worth a visit. All the information is displayed in three languages (French, Dutch and English)and there are videos of the fascinating land- and seascapes of the islands of Oceania. There are interactive maps and detailed descriptions, including archival documents, of all the known journeys of colonisers and explorers starting roughly 60.000 years ago and culminating in the well documented Franco-Belgian expedition in the 1930s that brought back the Easter Island statue.
There are artefacts, tools and weapons from all over Oceania, beautifully crafted and expertly displayed. You can see awe-inspiring carved masks (of which I personally never take photos as I find them intimidating), fearsome clubs and lances, artful vessels and jewellery. There are intricately patterned “tapa” textiles woven from fibres that are derived from tree bark as the islands lack raw materials like cotton and linen.
And of course there are really odd pieces like sculptures carved out of human bones and adorned with human hair, swords spiked with shark teeth and - the oddest one of all: a wooden reliquary in the shape of a shark containing a human skull. You guessed right, I didn't take a photo of that one either!
The exhibition is on until 29th April 2018 at the Cinquantenaire Museum in the European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium.
To view the pictures well, click on them and you will also find short descriptions.