The Cinquantenaire museum (Jubelpark museum) is the headquarters of the Royal museums of Art and History (Hallepoort, Music instruments museum Far East museum) and its is one of the most extensive museums in Belgium. The collections are divided according to four main themes: national archaeology, antiquity, Romanesque and Mosan art, decorative art and non European civilizations. The gallery displaying Romanesque and Mosan art has been revamped and is opened again to the public in February 2006. The precious mediaeval art treasures dating from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries contains a number of masterpieces from Belgium’s cultural heritage, including the Stavelot portable altar, the principal reliquary of Pope Alexander, the ‘ivory of the little figures’ and the Sedes Sapientiae of Hermale-sous-Huy. Besides the wooden sculptures, the ivory carvings and the liturgical textiles, what gives the gallery its lustre is chiefly the exceptional collection of examples of the Mosan goldsmith’s art, an art that enjoyed an extraordinary flourishing in the bishopric of Liège during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The sparkling objects, decorated with gold, richly coloured enamel and precious stones, have come mainly from church treasures from Stavelot, Florennes, Maastricht and Oignies, and provide us with a glimpse of the glory of the Romanesque decorative arts in our regions. Effectively, the gallery establishes the chronological link between the gallery devoted to Merovingian art and the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque galleries. More, it opens our eyes to the brilliance of mediaeval civilisation in the West.
Museum: Cinquantenaire MuseumCity: Brussels
Country: Belgium
Address: Jubelpark 10
Website: http://www.kmkg.be