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Digitizing Mwambutsa heritage objects in Afrika Museum Collections

Ongoing project

Started in 2025 - expected delivery 2026

Summary

We are the teams of the non-profit organisation Objet Témoin, a laboratory for digital applications in cultural mediation, conservation, and transmission.

Since September 2025, we have been working in close collaboration with David Bangiricenge and Tanguy Itangishaka, accompanied by the young, award-winning documentary filmmaker Catherine Bernard, to explore, understand, and share the heritage of Mwambutsa IV Bangiricenge. He was a political and diplomatic figure from Burundi who lived in Belgium before being buried in Switzerland after a complex life at the crossroads of numerous societal and geopolitical changes in both Africa and Europe.

From Autumn 2025, we are fortunate to be hosted by the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium to discover and digitise a series of artefacts. This will complement our study of light digitisation and photogrammetry methods on the one hand, and their applicability in playful mediation on the other.

Our setup is enhanced by new forms of capture, notably through the use of AI and 4K video as an image extraction source for photogrammetric reconstruction. By way of comparison, our previous experimental campaign with the War Heritage Institute had primarily focused on the early stages of this technology combined with more "traditional" panoramic photography techniques.

Last modified

12 October 2025

Crew

4

Project Lead

Julien Vandanjon-Rancoule

Location

INTERNATIONAL

Tags

benchmark, museum, archeology, heritage, investigation, transmission

Dive into the outputs

Birdview

King Mwambutsa IV Bangiricenge represents a remarkable part of the recent shared history between Burundi and Belgium. During his life, which led the monarch and his family from the African continent to Europe, he donated a collection of objects from daily Burundian life of his generation to the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA). Although not permanently on public display as part of the main collections, this collection represents an invaluable window into a story – both the individual story of the Bangiricenge family and that of the craftsmanship and cultural heritage of Burundi and the African diasporas in Belgium.

David Bangiricenge, also known as Banjy, left Burundi for Belgium at the age of 12, following the death of his mother, Regina Kanyange Mwambutsa, who was the daughter of Mwambutsa Bangiricenge, making him the grandson of the second-to-last king of the Ganwa dynasty.

In this context, two transmission projects are emerging. The first is titled "The Eternal Exodus" – a musical tale with related youth publications, created and performed by David Banjy (D. Bangiricenge's stage name). It draws on the story of Mwambutsa to address the question of identity construction and the complex issues of memory and cultural heritage in globalised societies. The second is an audiovisual production project in a vlog and documentary format, focusing on the character of David Banjy and his journey to rediscover his family history, from Belgium to Switzerland and, ultimately, to Burundi.

Project Scope

As the materials and resources required are similar to the objectives of Objet Témoin, an agreement has been established for a close collaboration over the 2025-2026 period.

The documentation of a heritage object can take many forms, from the most trivial – such as making a sketch or placing a document in a scanner – to the most complex, like creating a three-dimensional digital doppelgänger.

Museums are the pivot in the network of cultural institutions focused on heritage. They are simultaneously a place for preservation, study, and transmission. Their objects are, by their very nature, rare and fragile, which implies rigour and methodology, but also a certain creativity. The diversity of their collections often requires them to use complex inventory systems. The evolution of audiences, whose admissions help to sustain the structure, and a certain obligation to entertain, create "competition" in the use of modern outreach techniques and compel a shift towards the regular renewal of the "museum experience".

Each of these aspects has given rise to an uninterrupted chain of innovations, often on parallel paths. In recent times, the democratisation of capture devices has blurred the lines between elite scientific equipment, specialised industrial hardware, and the versatility of everyday accessories, which are intuitive to use and highly subject to gamification*.

This study focuses on this overlap and its potential for application in the heritage context. Its exhaustive scope is evidently limited by the rapid pace of technological evolution, but its purpose also lies in developing a framework for analysing and cyclically monitoring this "positive friction" for the benefit of cultural logistics.

The Objects

Handcrafted Artefacts

From mid 20th century

The artefacts origin within the museum collection are known : it is a direct donation of Mwambutsa himself to the former representative who happened to be a personal connection. The purpose (of the donation) is not explained but the function and context of the objects (daily life & cooking, games, ritual elements) are documented which provides a solid base for narration & discovery. 

Identity of the original artisans is not mentionned but the relative time proximity of their production and the donation event may provide decisive clues to investigate.

Delicate Materials

Wood, fiber, and metals

As we mentionned in our report from the workshop on metallic preservation organized in Namur in 2025 and the encounter with the archeological society in Liège in 2024, the access and manipulation of the items - even for a short digitization operation - can be a challenging part as the risk of damaging the item is never zero.

Helped by the conservation specialists, each object disposition and handeling device is a one-by-one dialog between "what would be the best for the camera and lighting" and "what is reasonably safe for the item, in terms of exposition to temperature, parasites, external pollution, etc.

Sharing the past as building blocks of the future

A story yet-to-be-revealed

Behind every object, there is not only the craftsmanship expertise, the window onto cultural, political or religious significance, the signs of use and abrasion from the original owner(s) adventures that may open sometimes inspiration for decades of investigation.

There is also the technical challenge of the lighting, in order to reveal hidden details and point out tiny structures, with at the very core of digitization process the intimate conviction that a beautiful image and accessibility can both bring the Public to the Museum and bring the common good of heritage outside of the Museum walls back into the general public, final inheritants of this common shared history.

The Actors

Belgium / Burundi

David Banjy is a singer and trained bassist originally from Burundi. He draws his inspiration from African rhythms, to which he adds harmonious, jazz-tinted vocals and melodies. Born in Kenya, he spent much of his youth in Burundi where he learned to play the drums, the kembe, and the nanga. It was on the shores of Lake Tanganyika that he first discovered modern music. His connection to Burundian history is profound and personal, as he is the grandson of Mwambutsa IV Bangiricenge, the second-to-last king of Burundi. This direct lineage links him to a pivotal figure in the nation's history, whose reign witnessed significant geopolitical shifts leading to the end of the monarchy. This heritage is a cornerstone of David Banjy's identity and artistic work, fuelling his exploration of themes such as identity, exile, and cultural memory in his projects.
Visit his website

In Belgium

Under supervision of Naomi Meulemans, Head of Cultural Heritage Collections at Africa Museum Belgium and the dedicated help of Joy Voncken, Stef Keyaerts, Alexander Vral, Eline Van Heymbeeck, and of course thanks to the warm support of Bart Ouvry for according us the appropriate resources and connections.

Visit their website

In Belgium

Under supervision of Jacques Remacle, founder and organizer of the cultural foundry called Arts & Publics and some of its special programs pushing towards cultural mediation enablers as the Bamba Champs workshops and digital experience programs such as Zinne Games.

Visit their website