The rich and very diverse Royal Military Museum collection is to be admired both in the Jubilee Park exhibition galleries and in external sites. A large part of the collection is however not available to the public, as it is kept in storage. Safeguarding the objects for future generations, that is one of the institution’s core tasks.

No collection piece is immune to decay: armours, tanks, planes, uniforms or paintings are all subjected to the workings of time. Each and every material ages and declines, visibly or invisibly, as time goes by.

The restoration workshops

The Royal Military Museum maintains several restoration workshops, handling the objects’ physical decay. There are workshops for textile, paintings, metal, fire-arms, paper and leather, but the Museum also has the necessary know-how to restore ships, airplanes and tanks.

The physical condition of our collections is maintained through both conservation and restoration. Conservation stabilizes or curbs degradation, whereas restoration gives a collection item a new lease of life.

Preventive conservation

Preventive conservation is also important: the creation of ideal circumstances for the safekeeping of the collection in the long run. Climate control, appropriate display methods and safe transport of collection items fall in this category.

The Royal Military Museum is currently conducting a research program related to preventive conservation, in collaboration with Antwerp University and the Royal Museum for Fine Arts. The AIRCHECQ project focuses on air quality in museum galleries.

For more information on this project, visit the website:

https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/airchecq/project-summary/what-is-the-project-about/