A true initiation trip that will take the visitor from the forests in the north to the savannahs in the south, the exhibition highlights the existing links between the works produced by various Bantu-speaking communities living in the areas lying on the banks of the majestic Congo River.

Through the various masks and Fang, Hemba, Kwele or Kota sculptures, the exhibition draws attention to the conception, structure and the artistic links that bring together Central Africa's major works.

The exhibition's three complementary themes are based on a set of basic common principles to these iconophilic peoples:

  -   the "heart shaped" facial masks and statues that ensure the unity and identity of the respective groups;
  -   the importance of the founding ancestor and the eminent members of his lineage;
  -   the representation of women in the savannah kingdoms. The women notably balance men's authority of men and are linked to the mystery of the earth's regeneration, to agriculture and to human life..