Bakota funerary reliquaries from Gabon - St. James' Church Tournai

The baptistery of St. Jacques Church in Tournai houses a little-known treasure of African sacred art : the Bakota funerary reliquaries from Gabon. This is a collection of 85 pieces collected during trips to Lambaréné in Gabon and approaches by the sculptor-bronzer Paul Desnouck.

This important and rare private collection presents not masks or fetishes, but reliquaries of the BAKOTA ethnic groups of Gabon . A bone from the remains of a dignitary of the clan was placed in a wicker basket topped with very specific sculptures that play the role of guardians. The reliquary, composed of a wooden core and covered with copper plates, dominated the basket to guard or protect the relic. The initiates of the clan, who believed in an inaccessible supreme being, conducted a dialogue with the deceased ancestor through this reliquary so that he could intercede with God to obtain mercy.

Willem Vandenameele