Musée de l'Informatique Pionnière en Belgique, Digital heritage museum in Namur, Belgium.
The Musée de l'Informatique Pionnière en Belgique is a computing museum in Namur that displays about 300 objects across about 500 square meters. The collection includes mechanical calculators, room-sized computers from the postwar era, and personal computers that document the evolution of computing technology from the 1800s to today.
The museum was founded in 2016 and brings together four major Belgian computing collections under one roof, including archives from Bull-FEBB and the Unisys Computer Museum. These institutions preserved the memory of Belgium's computing industry, which played an important role in technological development since the 1800s.
The museum displays collections from Belgium's computing industry and shows how early computers entered different areas of society. Visitors can see how these machines were used for everyday tasks and what role they played in Belgian businesses.
The museum is located near the University of Namur and is accessible Tuesday through Saturday, but remains closed during the December holidays. Visitors should plan enough time to explore the exhibits, especially if they want to understand the technical details of the various machines.
The museum holds the special 'Computing and Bible' collection, which shows how early computers were used to analyze religious texts. This unusual application reveals that computer uses extended far beyond commercial or scientific purposes.
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