In 1897, one of the seven times when Belgium organised a world exhibition, King Leopold II selected his Congo policy as the central theme for the exhibition. On the former hunting grounds of the Dukes of Brabant - that had been neglected for the past century - a "Colonial Palace" was built and the surroundings were transformed into a beautiful park. The Avenue de Tervueren that connects the Colonial Palace to the Cinquantenaire dates from the same period.
After the 1897 exhibition, the Colonial Palace became the permanent host to Belgium’s Congo collection. It quickly became too small, and the collection moved to a newly constructed Royal Museum for Central Africa, which remains a world-class museum in its field until today. Originally, the Museum was only a small part of a much bigger complex, which included an international school and a university campus. These plans were however never realised.
The walk starts at the church of Tervuren. Walk through the monumental gate to the park. There, you’ll find node number 4 of the walking network ‘Zuid Dijleland’. Following the arrows first to node number 41, then node 42 and back to 4 takes you through the most interesting sites of the Tervuren park. The walk is around 6 km in length. Some of the highlights:
- Church of St John Evangelist
- Chapel of St Hubert
- Colonial Palace
- Royal Museum for Central Africa
- Spanish House
- Park of Tervueren
Practical information can be obtained at the Tourist Office of Tervuren. Among other things, you can obtain the map of the walking network ‘Zuid Dijleland’ which lists total 300 km of walking paths.
