hello and welcome to the travel show with me, rajan datar. now, it s widely believed that the first ever museum was built more than 2,500 years ago in babylon, or modern day iraq. and now unesco reckons there are 100,000 of them throughout the world. but today, many museums are putting a lot of time and effort into thinking about how they can make their collections more engaging and more in tune with modern audiences. and that is what we re looking at in this week s show, starting here in belgium. the african museum in tervuren, just outside of brussels, is marking its 125th anniversary. and along with a range of events associated with that, the museum s taken the opportunity to reflect on its colonial past. five years ago, the museum underwent a massive renovation, removing problematic statues, changing the labelling around objects, anything that created a negative stereotype about africa. though some things couldn t be changed, like the enduring presence of the monarch who
la belgique apportant la civilisation au congo. belgium brought civilisation to congo ? exactly, exactly. it s a very problematic one. how come these are still here, that plaque and that statue? that s a question that every visitors ask us. it s because the building is protected, it s part of the flanders cultural heritage. so we cannot touch anything from the walls of the building. right. so what we did is that we commissioned contemporary artists to present their alternative interpretation. so when the museum building says, belgium brings security , he has the image of the belgian soldiers that brings security with eyes in his back. and it s notjust the text. it s as obvious as the colour of the statues. so here we have another inscription that says, the wrestle with the snake. the wrestle with the snake . you do notice that the statue is black and the others are gold, because gold is seen as superior, as godly. and this is for someone who is inferior. the museum traces its ori