The Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History (or simply the Royal Military Museum (RRM)) is a museum that occupies the northernmost part of the historic complex in Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels, Belgium.
In 1875, the Belgian architect Gideon Bordiau made a proposal to build flats on the site of an ancient plain maneuver Guard civics.
The layout of the park is finally set in the suburbs of Etterbeek in 1888. He received at that time the name of Cinquantenaire in remembrance of the success of the Jubilee celebration of Independence Belgian about this place.
The construction of buildings, however, is placing in the refrigerator from 1890 for lack of money and was finally stopped by the death of the architect in 1904. It was not until 1905 that work resumed under the direction of architect Charles Girault french and be completed on contingency plans to celebrate the new patron who is none other than King Leopold II. The plan arches is expanded to meet the wishes of the king. The park is indeed in the wake of the rue de la Loi, which starts at the end of the Brussels Park before the royal palace.
In 1946, a fire outweighs the south wing of the building.
At the exhibition of 1910, a section of military history was presented to the public and met with great success.
Given the enthusiasm of the population, the authorities formed a museum of the army within an international context of extreme tension which leads to the Great War. The museum was originally installed on the site of the Abbaye de la Cambre and moved on the Cinquantenaire Park in 1923.
It originally consisted of a set of objects collected by the officer Louis Leconte approximately 900 pieces and the collection was later heavily enriched by legacies, gifts and exchanges. Louis Leconte put particular to choose among the equipment abandoned by the Germans in 1918.
Today, it is possible to find collections of uniforms, weapons, vehicles and military equipment of all ages and all countries.
Recent developments:
The north wing built by Gideon Bordiau is occupied by the aviation hall since 1972 when the Air and Space is inaugurated.
The collection set includes various types of aircraft for some dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century. The collection as a whole is one of the largest in the world.