The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) is an ethnographical and natural history museum. It focuses mainly on the Congo, Belgium's former colony. However, some aspects (especially regarding to biological research) extend to the whole of the Congo River basin, Middle Africa, East Africa and West Africa. It was at first intended purely as a colonial museum, but after 1960 it became more focused on ethnography and anthropology. Like in most museums, there is both a research department and a public exhibit department. Despite its name, not all research pertains to Africa. For example, there is research going on into the archaeozoology of Sagalassos. Some researchers have strong ties with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. The museum is surrounded by gardens, with the biggest giant redwood in Flanders, and a large park with lakes. St Hubert Chapel is located at the west end of the park.
Tervuren Library (Gemeentelijke Openbare Bibliotheek Tervuren - GOBT) is situated at Vandersandestraat 15. It contains around 43,300 printed documents, and 886 DVDs
