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'Le petit beige a voulufaire grand' THE TROUBLESOME CONSTRUCTION OF THE 'Residence du Gouverneur Goniral du Congo Beige' IN LEOPOLDVILLE, 1922-1960

Journal Name:

  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi

Publication Year:

  • 2000

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Abstract (2. Language): 
As one of the smallest European nations with no previous colonial experience worth mentioning, Belgium paradoxically ruled over one of the largest colonies in Africa between 1885 and 1960. It was the Belgian court, more specifically king Leopold II, that had initiated the colonial venture, but Congo did not become a colony in the true sense of the word until 1908, when authority over the African territory was passed on to the Belgian government (2). No efforts were spared to mobilize the population's and politicians' interest in the colony. Yet the colonization of Congo remained largely the domain of a restricted circle of industrial leaders, missionaries and politicians. One might even legitimately wonder whether Belgium actually had any imperial ambitions, for the quintessence of Belgian colonization in Congo was the pursuit of profit, not the stimulation of national self-esteem (3). The number of Belgians residing in the Congo remained small throughout the colonial period and there was never an issue of a colonisation depeuplement Many important construction programs during the colonial period were utilitarian in character, and the Congo never turned into an architectural laboratory, as was for instance the case in French Morocco or Libya under Italian rule (4). Yet, the one building that was to mark the presence of the colonial government in Congo, the new Residence du Gouveneur General du Congo Beige in Leopoldville, 'seems' an exception to this rule. Being 'the' major public building program of the colonial period, the commission nonetheless proved to be problematic (5). In fact, it took two architectural competitions and several more designs to get the building site started after more than 30 years of dispute (6). Because the building was meant to visualize colonial power, the commission also generated a discussion, albeit a restricted one, on the possible nature of colonial architecture in the Congo. As it is shown in this paper, the case of the governor-general's residence is particularly revealing of how Beaux-Arts conceptions of composition and style influenced the architectural expression of Belgium's 'blurred' imperial ambitions.
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