Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes the history of museum collections in Republic of Benin from the inception of the first museum in Abomey city by the French Administration to date. It tries to show the continuity in the collections but also the discontinuity in the implementation by policy makers a long the years.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses the history of museum collections in present-day Republic of Benin in West Africa. The first museum was installed in 1930 in the former royal palaces and named Musée d'arts et d'histoire dahoméens'' It presented the regalia belonging to the dynasties consisted of thrones, guns, ritual objects, etc.

In 1958, the French administration established another museum, Musée ethnographique de Porto-Novo which show the material cultures of the ethnic groups pertaining to the colony.

The aim of these museums was in one side, to preserve the main cultural productions of the conquered kingdom of Dànxòmɛ in 1892 and in the other side, to present all these objects to the foreign audiences and also to the local peoples.

But when the country gained its independence in 1960, the then new Republic started establishing museums across the country to promote local cultures and help building a national unity which was not in the core of the previous initiatives. In the line of this process, the Regional Museum of Natitingou in the north has been created in 1991. This local museum presented the audiences with artefacts of the region.

While the collections of the museums established at the colonial period have not significantly increased, the new ones are still striving after their effect in the society.

By choosing these three locations, this paper addresses the history of museums in Bénin, from South to North in order to put forward continuity and discontinuity in the collecting policy.