The Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History (French: Musée Royal de l’Armée et d’Histoire Militaire, Dutch: Koninklijk Museum van het Leger en de Krijgsgeschiedenis, often abbreviated to KLM-MRA) is a military museum that occupies the two northernmost halls of the historic complex in Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels.In 1875, the Belgian architect Gédéon Bordiau made a proposal to build flats on the site of a former parade ground of the Garde Civique. The location was named "Cinquantenaire" (literally "50th anniversary") because it was planned to celebrate the half-century since the independence of Belgium in 1830 as an exhibition space.
Temporary structures were erected on the site for the World Fair of 1897 as Bordiau's work had not been finished. The construction of buildings was put on hold in 1890 for lack of funds and was eventually stopped by the death of the architect in 1904. Work resumed the following year under the direction of French architect Charles Girault and was completed with a new patron, King Leopold II. The triumphal arch that had already been planned was amended and expanded to meet the wishes of the King.