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The Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum

Ghana

  • Museums
  • 6 min read

National Museum Of Ghana

The Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) owns and operates the National Museum of Ghana, which has been open since March 5, 1957. The museum’s primary collections include archaeology, ethnography, and art, which are used to tell the story of Ghana’s rich cultural history.

Cape Coast Castle Museum

The Cape Coast Castle Museum, established in 1970, documents Ghana’s rich cultural heritage both before and after the arrival of the Europeans. The dungeons of the castle provide an invaluable look at the impact of the slave trade on the country, and the ‘Door of No Return’ is particularly haunting to visit. Gold weights and measuring scales; state swords; guns; stone hunting implements; paintings; terracotta figurines; a palanquin (a structure used to carry chiefs); life-size European engravings depicting West African scenes; maps of slave trade routes; examples of items exchanged for slaves; shackles; a black-and-white print of the slave ship; nineteenth-century engravings of captives onboard a slave ship; clan staffs; a canoe; Conference halls, a library, an art and craft studio, a book store and gift shop, curio shops, a car park, and an open courtyard for outdoor activities are all available at the Cape Coast Castle Museum.

Museum of Nzema Culture and History

The “Fort Apollonia Museum of Nzema Culture and History” is housed in the ancient Fort Apollonia, which was established by the British between 1765 and 1771 in Beyin, Jomoro District. Fort Apollonia was the final fort built along the Gold Coast. Following many years of neglect, the fort was restored with funds from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is now home to an eco-museum dedicated to Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and the most important figure to come from the Nzema area. The Fort intends to serve as a conservation education center for educational activities, arts and crafts production, temporary exhibitions, art performances, and so on. The museum resource center hosts a variety of educational activities. They include workshops for viewing and creating art, as well as programs in which adults can participate alongside their children. The museum transcends its role as a place to experience artworks, traditional dressing/hair styles, games, drumming/dancing, and traditional medicine through these programs, and becomes a place for free self-expression and exchange with other participants.

St. George’s Castle (Elmina Castle) Museum

The St. George’s Castle Museum is housed within St. George’s Castle (also known as ‘Elmina Castle,’ a Central Region fortress. This museum was founded in 1996 by the GMMB, the US Agency for International Development, and the Mid-West Universities Consortium for International Activities. The museum’s mission is to educate the public about the history of St. George’s Castle and to preserve the Central Region’s cultural heritage. Photographs depicting images of St. George’s Castle throughout the centuries; displays on the Asantes of Elmina and local trading activities with Europeans; gold weights; shackles; murals; local textiles, stools, stone implements, ceramics, bottles, clay, glass, and beads are among the exhibits. St. George’s Castle tours are available through the museum. The former storehouses and slave dungeons, chapels, and governor’s chamber can all be seen by visitors. Another interesting scene is the cell where a King of Asante was once imprisoned. Visitors will also have the opportunity to take aerial photographs of the surrounding harbours, fishing boats, and a lighthouse.

Upper East Regional Museum, Bolgatanga

The Upper East Regional Museum is located in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region’s capital. The Ghana National Commission on Culture established it in 1972 and moved it to its current location in 1991. The museum’s mission is to preserve the material culture of the Upper East Region while educating the public, particularly the youth, about the importance of protecting and remembering their local heritage. Local pottery, paintings, musical instruments, jewelry, weaponry, chiefs’ possessions, carved darkwood stools, and bronze ancestral vases are among the exhibits. The Upper East Regional Museum also provides tours of other local attractions, such as the Tongo-Tengzuk Hills and Shrines and the Paga Crocodile Pond.

Manhyia Palace Museum

The Manhyia Palace Museum was constructed to document and share the illustrious history of the Ashanti, one of history’s most powerful West African empires. The museum, which is located in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest and most populous city, houses numerous priceless artifacts dating back to the Ashanti empire’s heyday. Visitors can also learn about the empire’s beginnings through various video installations. Overall, this is an excellent place to delve into the vast wealth of knowledge spawned by the Ashanti empire.

The Museum of Science and Technology

The Museum of Science and Technology is only a few steps away from the National Museum. It exhibits artifacts that represent Ghana’s scientific advancement from pre-colonial times to the present. Visitors can find everything from primitive handaxes and other simple farm tools to complex machinery such as helicopters and bamboo bicycles, which were designed and built by Ghanaians. The museum also hosts the final exhibition for graduating students from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology’s School of Fine Art, which features some of the finest contemporary fine arts and performance arts.

The Kwame Knrumah Mausoleum

The Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum was built to honor Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first Prime Minister and President. It also houses his mortal remains, as well as books, artifacts, and other items associated with his life. Visitors are also taken through the history of the pan-African struggle, learning firsthand about his contributions as well as those of other African leaders such as Patrice Lumumba and Julius Nyerere. The Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum is the most popular destination for tourists interested in learning more about the revolutionary leader who was instrumental in liberating Ghana from the British.

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