Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History

The Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History (Musée royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire militaire, Koninklijk Museum van het Leger en de Krijgsgeschiedenis), also known as the Royal Military Museum (Musée royal de l'Armée (MRA), Koninklijk Legermuseum (KLM)), is a military museum that occupies the two northernmost halls of the historic complex in the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark in Brussels, Belgium. The park is set on the continuation of the Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, which starts at the end of Brussels Park before the Royal Palace. The Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark was part of a project commissioned by the Belgian Government under the patronage of King Leopold II for the 1880 National Exhibition, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Belgian Revolution. In 1875, the architect Gédéon Bordiau made a proposal to build on this site; part of the so-called "Linthout" plains, the former military exercise ground of the Garde Civique outside of Brussels' city centre. The location was named Cinquantenaire in French (literally "Fiftieth Anniversary") and Jubelpark in Dutch ("Jubilee Park") because it was planned as an exhibition space to celebrate the anniversary. Temporary structures were erected on the site for the International Exposition of 1897 as Bordiau's work had not been finished. The construction of buildings was put on hold in 1890 for lack of funds and was eventually stopped by the architect's death in 1904. Work resumed the following year under the direction of the French architect Charles Girault and was completed with a new patron, King Leopold II. The triumphal arch that had already been planned was amended and expanded to meet the king's wishes. Five years later, at the Brussels International Exposition of 1910, a section on military history was presented to the public on the same premises, and was met with great success. Given the population's enthusiasm, the authorities decided to create a military museum within the international context of extreme tension which led to the Great War.