Museums of Benin: the complete guide

From the Gulf of Guinea to the foothills of Atakora, Benin is a tourist destination with very high potential in Africa. It is indeed one of the rare destinations to offer seaside tourism for lovers of beautiful beaches, coconut palms and sunshine; safari tourism with its reserves and natural parks, but also historical and artistic tourism with its colorful past. 

This past, part of which has inspired by famous movies like The Woman King or Black Panther. But far from the cameras, the tangible and intangible heritage of this West African country, small in size but immense in history, can be read in the country's museums. 

The museums of Benin reflect its cultural diversity. History museums, contemporary art museums, etc., these places of education and heritage enhancement for current and future generations preserve within them the soul of a people. 

With the wave of return of cultural objects from the former African colonies, the tourist attraction of Benin, formerly neglected, is revived by its existing museum infrastructures and under construction. Back to the history and culture of the people of Benin as they are presented by the museums of Benin.

Benin Museum: Art

The cultural and artistic heritage of Benin is preserved in certain museums which focus on the theme of both ancient and contemporary art. There are sculpted, carved or kneaded works that testify to the cultural richness and artistic talent of the Dahomeans..

Small Museum of the Recade

Located half an hour from downtown Cotonou, it is one of Benin's thematic museums that take you on a discovery of the royal scepters of Dahomey. The recades are royal attributes consisting of a handle most often made of wood and a metal upper part.

They are in the spotlight in this Lobozounkpa museum in the town of Abomey-Calavi. There are indeed 98 ancient works including recades restored by European collectors, sabers, objects of worship, various royal objects, and 30 contemporary recades.

Brazil House (House of Memory)

The Caso do Brazil was so named because it was originally intended to house a collection of Brazilian works. Former residence of the Brazilian governor and then of a Portuguese family, the museum now houses a permanent exhibition entitled "and if Ouidah was told to me...". 

You will see African art objects, traditional costumes, religious objects, and many other pieces of the history of the slave trade. The permanent exhibition of African women leaders immerses the visitor in a feminist universe where several African artistic masterpieces rub shoulders.

Museum of Benin: Contemporary Art

Appreciating contemporary art from here and elsewhere in Benin’s museums is possible. Some museums thus praise the creative genius of some of our contemporary artists..

Ouidah Museum of Contemporary Art

Open in the historic city of Ouidah, department of the Atlantic, the contemporary art museum of Ouidah is deployed in the villa Ajavon. In close partnership with the Zinsou Foundation, which brought it to the baptismal font, the museum aims to be a bridge between memory, tradition and its contemporary rewriting. 

It is characterized by the wealth of muses present: sculpture, installation, photography, painting, drawing, lithography, etc. It is a museum which strikes by the quality and the diversity of its collection. It must be said that the museum, directed by the Zinsou foundation, welcomes each year a selection of works from the collection of the Zinsou family.. 

It also benefits from partnerships for thematic exhibitions with other museums or artists. The museum opens its doors from Wednesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. On Tuesdays, it opens from 1 p.m.

The Zinsou Foundation Lab

Located in Fidjrossè a few steps from Cotonou airport, the Zinsou Foundation Lab is an exhibition space dedicated to contemporary art. It hosts temporary exhibitions based on the foundation's collection. 

It is open every day except Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. On Mondays, however, it opens at 2 p.m. It is a space that includes a shop to buy souvenirs and a Café to peacefully enjoy iced tea, for example on the terrace of the Lab.

The Jardin d’test of the Zinsou Foundation

This garden is a hybrid place extending over six hectares. It is an atypical and enriching experience that is offered to visitors who wish to discover the museums of Benin. Located 1km after the toll station of the Cotonou Ouidah inter-state road, the garden is a unique artistic and plant ensemble. 

There are artistic works and a wide variety of plants. Open every day, guided tours of the garden take place from Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Botanical enthusiasts, the guides will necessarily teach you something about the Dahomey Gap or even about the plants of American origin that came from the 16th and 17th centuries with Portuguese and then French navigators..

Musée du Bénin : Civilisation

Avimadjessi International Museum of Ahozon

Located in the district of Ahozon in Ouidah, this private museum is centered around the person of its initiator, the former counselor at the Embassy of Benin in Belgium, Dénis Avimadjessi. There are a large number of objects from all over the world. The museum, which includes more than 3,000 objects, was put up for sale piece by piece in 2016. Today the museum is permanently closed until further notice.

Musée du Bénin : Civilisation-Art

Villa Caro Museum

Villa Caro is a Finno-African cultural center located in the village of Grand-Popo. It has an L-shaped museum that houses several artistic and cultural works related to West African culture and animist religion. 

This is one of the museums in Benin whose collection reveals the influence of European culture in Africa, the understanding of Europeans of Africa, etc. Concretely, it is a museum that gives pride of place to the divinity Mami Wata, princess of the waters in the Vodun pantheon.

Museum of Benin: Community

The Tanéka Cultural Bank

This bank, unique in Benin, is a conservatory museum of the Tanéka Civilization. The bank is located in the town of Copargo and is intended as a repository for artifacts from the Tanéka culture. 

There are several family objects there. Today, the cultural bank has a botanical garden with an area of ​​about 10 hectares, in Tchouchouhou.

Museum of Benin: Ethnographic

Museum of Hunting and Fâ

This museum focuses on the mysteries of the Fâ and stories of hunting adventures. The museum of hunting and Fâ de Savalou cultures immerses the visitor in the power of nature. 

In contact with geomancy and hunting stories, it is the force of instinct  wild, the power of wild animals and the plot of the hunt that are praised.

Ethnographic and Open Air Museum of Parakou

Located approximately 1.5 km from downtown Parakou, this museum is made up of several round boxes that serve as an exhibition hall. The collection of this museum comprises in principle more than 500 inventoried objects divided into several categories. 

The tourist will be able to observe the past and present of certain household furniture, agricultural tools, traps or shackles, pottery, forging and weaving tools, attributes of power, etc. The objects present are essentially cultural and artistic. 

It is presented musical instruments, very beautiful traditional accessories from craftsmanship. Remember that repair work is necessary for the restoration of the premises.

Natitingou Regional Museum

This is one of the few interesting museums in the region. The museum, opened in 1991, is dedicated to the civilizations of Atacora. It exhibits instruments, jewelry, artifacts, crowns, photos, traditional weapons, etc. 

The regional ethnographic museum of Natitingou will make you discover the culture of the Somba people with the various types of habitat, the famous tatas somba. It is a nice insight into the life of the Somba communities that the museum offers.

Ethnographic Museum Alexandre Sènou Adandé

Based in Porto-Novo in the capital, the Adandé Museum is one of the oldest museums in the country. Its collection comes largely from that of the French Institute of Black Africa directed by the eponymous ethnographer. 

With a collection of more than 1,300 pieces, the Alexandre Adandé Ethnographic Museum is one of the most comprehensive public museums in Benin. It mainly contains cultural articles. By its congenital vocation to make a summary of the habits and customs of all the ethnic groups present on the Beninese territory, the museum holds permanent exhibitions. 

Of course, these exhibitions relate to the sacred drums of Nikki, the Balogoun masks, the Guèlèdè masks, the Fâ trays, the wooden sculptures, the musical instruments, a forge or even knives and firearms.

Note that the museum is open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends or public holidays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The price is 1000 FCFA per visitor. For technical reasons, the entire museum collection is not exhibited at the same time. It is therefore impossible to provide information on the items that will be exhibited during your visit. Unless of course you contact the museum staff before going there.

Museum of Benin: Ethnographic-history

Adjarra Masks Museum

This is a thematic museum located in the town of Adjarra, a real open-air museum. Indeed, Adjarra is renowned for its craft market and the museum of masks does not fail to offer a tourist circuit to discover the town. 

But this museum has the particularity of focusing on African masks and traditions. We can discover and compare the Zangbeto and Guelede masks to masks from Congo-Brazzaville, the DRC, Angola, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, etc., in several aspects such as form, functions , manufacturing techniques and more.

Prices for the single visit: 1000 FCFA for nationals and 2000 FCFA for foreign tourists.

Musée du Bénin : Histoire

Ouidah History Museum

700 collection pieces dealing with history, archeology and the arts are housed in this museum. Located between the Slave Route and Rue van Vollenhoven, the museum is located within the Fort Portuguais. 

It’s a beautiful place to soak up slavery and colonialism.

Kaba Resistance Museum

Also known as the Stele of Kaba, this monument erected in memory of Kaba is located at the entrance to the town of Natitingou. The museum is inspired by the tatas somba and is surmounted by the stele of Kaba. 

It includes exhibition halls, offices, a green space without forgetting the stele itself which overlooks it.

Don Francisco Felix de Souza Chacha Museum

This important historical site in Benin located in Ouidah in the Docomè district is dedicated to the history of slavery. Still called the Souza Museum, it brings together historical collections on slavery. 

Its objective is to promote the tangible and intangible heritage of the slave trade by using the objects of Francisco Félix de Souza, one of the great Brazilian traffickers of the time..

Museum Akaba Idena

160 kilometers north of Cotonou is the Akaba Idéna museum in the plateau department. This museum is a major tourist site located in the historic city of Kétou. It is about two kilometers from the royal palace of Kétou. 

The museum praises the Yoruba kingdom by displaying significant relics of Yoruba culture. As an integral part of Benin's cultural heritage, the site has been listed in the World Monuments Fund since 2012..

Museum Danri de Nikki

Located south of the royal palace of Nikki in the eponymous district, this museum is dedicated to the history of the Baatonum people. It is a public museum normally accessible on working days and hours. 

Even if it is not very popular due to its abandonment, it is still the 3rd cultural heritage of the municipality of Nikki.

Abomey Historical Museum

Technically, this museum is a set of royal palaces. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the site, of exceptional value, covers approximately 50 hectares. The museum recounts the glorious epic of the kingdom of Danhomè. 

It is a reflection of the cultural and historical heritage of the Fon people. It is one of the five busiest museums in Benin, and it is certainly not the fifth. In view of its remarkable collection and its geographical location, it is no exaggeration to say that visiting Benin without visiting this museum leaves a taste of unfinished business. 

The Abomey Historical Museum and the Royal Palaces are accessible every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to access it, count 2500 FCFA per tourist and 1000 FCFA per child.

Museum Honmè « Royal palace »

Housed in the palace of the former kings of Porto-Novo, the Honmey Royal Palace is located in the Avassa district.  The 230 objects kept in the reserves of this museum retrace the history of the kingdom of Hogbonou. They make it an important site. 

Rightly classified as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO since 1996, the museum hosts, in addition to its temporary exhibitions, religious events. The museum is open every day except Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to access it, you have to pay 1,500 FCFA.

Regional Museum of Kinkinhoué

This museum is a witness to Benin's colonial history. Located in the district of Kinkinhoué in the municipality of Djakotomey, the museum occupies an area of ​​three hectares. 

Several obstacles affect the notoriety of the Kinkinhoué museum. First, it is not easily accessible from Cotonou, but the buildings must be rehabilitated.

Museum Da-Silva

If you are one day in Hogbonou, the capital Porto-Novo, consider visiting the Da-Silva museum. Opened in 1998, it is worth a visit just for the murals that adorn its facade. 

The museum is located between the lagoon and the cathedral of Porto-Novo. Very well located, the museum presents several works distributed in rooms. Thus, you can visit the room of African civilization, the room of Greco-Roman civilization, the one dedicated to blacks of great reputation... 

You will undoubtedly appreciate the latter as well as the room dedicated to women.  Like the room dedicated to defenders of the black cause, the museum wants to be committed. He follows in the footsteps of Afro-Brazilians from their deportation to their return home..

Benin Museum: Memorial

Gnonas Pedro Museum

This museum located in Lokossa, 100 km from Cotonou to the north-northwest, traces the life of Gnona Sossou Pierre Kouassivi, an artist from the Africando group, in a unique way. The genius of salsa and unquestionably one of the greatest Beninese singers of the last century is honored by this museum. 

The latter immortalizes in his own way the life, but also the artistic career of Gnonas Pédro. On the museum's website, we also learn that virtual exhibitions are accessible to the public..

Benin Museum: Natural Sciences

Garden of plants and nature

In Porto-Novo, 40 km from Bernardin Gantin International Airport in Cotonou, this garden is located in the administrative district, between the headquarters of the National Assembly and the Departmental Hospital Centre. Green space spread over an area of ​​nearly 4 hectares, the garden has about 200 fish species. 

Apart from its plant heritage, the garden is distinguished by its faunal heritage and its wooden sculptures. It should be noted that the entrance is free and if you feel like it, you can have a coffee in the park. Only downside, the garden is currently poorly maintained.

Natural Science Museum, Tropical Nature

Abomey Museum of Beekeeping, Ecology and Insects

The Cana bee museum in Abomey is an unprecedented project. The visitor finds in this museum all the stages of the life of bees as well as the particularities of the African bee, its breeding, etc. 

Beekeeping equipment is presented to him as well as educational documentation on ecology. He also has the opportunity to browse a unique collection of insects present in Benin.

Benin Museum: Music

Parakou Music Museum

This museum is unique in that it collects, preserves and exhibits rare precious objects related to traditional sacred, festive or funerary instruments and rhythms. We discover the history of these objects and their destination. 

This is one of the few museums dedicated to music in Africa; a music pavilion with more than 400 instruments in its collection. This museum alone shows the visitor how rich and diversified Beninese musical heritage is..

Benin Museum: Others

Benin Olympic Museum

This museum located in Cotonou is dedicated to the history of the Olympic Games. Located within the grounds of the Stade de l'Amitié Général Mathieu Kérékou, the museum has a collection made up of several thousand pieces, documents and others. 

The objective of this museum is clear: to defend sporting values.

Museum construction projects in Benin

For several years, the Beninese government has been part of the dynamics of enhancing the tourist potential of the country and at the same time improving the conditions for the conservation of our cultural heritage. 

As such, museum projects are adopted and construction work is already underway in the cities concerned.

The International Museum of Memory and Slavery

In Ouidah, this museum will be dedicated to preserving the memory and slavery past of the kingdom of Danhomè. The future modern-looking museum will offer an immersive journey, via audiovisual media and reconstructions, in time. 

We will be able to experience the spiral of the slave trade and the fight for dignity and freedom from a new perspective, that of Africans themselves. The museum will extend over 662m2 and will adjoin the current Portuguese fort. 

The Museum of the Epic of the Amazons and the Kingdom of Danhome

In the heart of the palatial site of Abomey, the government is working to set up a history museum. It will replace the current Abomey museum installed on the same site and will have state-of-the-art technology in terms of natural and mechanical ventilation system, humidity management, etc. 

In addition to the 26 restored royal treasures, the museum will house more than 500 unpublished works that will further highlight the history of the kingdom of Danhomè and the bravery of its Amazons. 

Le Musée Voodoo International

Porto-Novo will also not be among the rest. The politico-administrative capital of Benin will be the city that will host the International Voodoo Museum. Bringing worship to the cultural field, this museum will rightly give voodoo its rightful place in the intangible cultural heritage of Benin. 

The museum will be set up a few steps from Place Toffa and will have to work to deconstruct the stereotypes conveyed here and there about voodoo. Voodoo is not designed to cause harm as the Californian production house Hollywood wanted to embody it, especially through the infamous voodoo dolls. 

Even if the collection to be included in this museum is still being evaluated, we can already be certain that the museum will offer the world the intellectual and visual means to better understand voodoo..

Museum of Contemporary Art

Planned to find its place in the artisanal village of Cotonou, the museum of contemporary art, as its name suggests, will promote Beninese contemporary art. 

Sculptors, visual artists, and others of Beninese origin are undervalued in our museums. And this project will make it possible to give them all the light and recognition that are due to them for the quality of their works.. 

Conclusion on museums in Benin: where to start?

There are a number of museums to visit in Benin that are worth a visit, although when you go deeper into the interior of the country, few museums in Benin are in good condition. 

If you are in Cotonou, start your discovery of the history and culture of Benin with the museums of the Zinsou Foundation and the Ouidah History Museum. 

The Abomey Historical Museum is a guardian pavilion of the relics of the Kingdom of Abomey that should also be visited. Do not be surprised to see during your visits several museum infrastructures under repair or under construction.