The Independence Memorial Museum is a history
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
in
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...
, the capital of
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
. It focuses on the anti-colonial resistance and the national liberation movement of Namibia.
The museum is located on
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...
Avenue and was designed and built by
Mansudae Overseas Projects, a
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
n firm.
It is one of four major public works Mansudae constructed in Namibia, the other three being
Heroes' Acre,
Okahandja Military Museum and
a new State House.
The museum's appearance has been likened to that of a
potjie,
as well as a
coffee pot
A coffeemaker, coffee maker or coffee machine is a cooking appliance used to brew coffee. While there are many different types of coffeemakers the two most common brewing principles use gravity or pressure to move hot water through coffee gr ...
and a
molar tooth
The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, ''molaris dens'', meaning "millstone to ...
.
It is flanked by two statues: a statue of Namibia's first president,
Sam Nujoma
Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, (; born 12 May 1929) is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first ...
, and the
Genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
Memorial, both also built by Mansudae.
The museum was inaugurated on March 20, 2014,
the twenty-fourth anniversary of independence of the country, by President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Naming
The name of the proposed museum was subject to considerable debate from the time of its proposal.
Usutuaije Maamberua, president of South West Africa National Union (
SWANU
The South West Africa National Union (SWANU) is a Namibian political party founded in 1959. Most of its members came from the Herero people, while fellow independence movement SWAPO was mostly an Ovambo party. The party's president is Charles ...
), proposed the name "Genocide Remembrance Centre", in recognition of the site where it was built being known as ''Orumbo rua Katjombondi'', hz, a place of horror.
Location
The Independence Memorial Museum is located on Robert Mugabe Avenue between two buildings of the German colonial period, the
Christuskirche and the colonial citadel, the
Alte Feste. The museum sits on a small slope between the two structures, and according to the historian Reihard Kossler, has broken up the ensemble of German monuments in Windhoek.
In sharp contrast to the German colonial architectural style of the existing historical structures, the Independence Memorial Museum is built in the North Korean
socialist realist
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is c ...
style, symbolic of the "modernist, post-colonial state."
Structure
The museum structure consists of a five-story triangular glass structure and was planned with four equal walls of reaching a height of at least . It features a glass-fronted elevator at its front.
Exterior
Sam Nujoma Statue
A bronze statue in the North Korean style commemorating
Sam Nujoma
Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, (; born 12 May 1929) is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first ...
is placed prominently at the front of the museum. In the statue Nujoma faces towards Windhoek and holds a copy of the Constituency Book, the
Constitution of Namibia
The Constitution of Namibia is the supreme law of the Republic of Namibia. Adopted on 9 February 1990, a month prior to Namibia's independence from apartheid South Africa, it was written by an elected constituent assembly.
Preamble
"Whereas ...
. It is located on the site of the
Reiterdenkmal equestrian statue,
which stood on the hill for 102 years. The Reiterdenkmal statue was considered controversial after the independence of Namibia; some in the country viewed it as symbol of colonial oppression.
Others, primarily from the German-speaking community in Namibia, saw any alteration of the statue as a violation of the Namibian Heritage Act of 2004, which outlines the procedures to protect national heritage sites in Namibia.
The Reiterdenkmal statue was removed in 2013 and is now located in the courtyard of the Alte Feste Museum.
Genocide Memorial
The Genocide Memorial sits south of the Nujoma statue. It depicts the 'untold hardships and suffering' at the hands of the
Schutztruppe
(, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...
, the troops of the
German colonial empire
The German colonial empire (german: Deutsches Kolonialreich) constituted the overseas colonies, dependencies and territories of the German Empire. Unified in the early 1870s, the chancellor of this time period was Otto von Bismarck. Short-live ...
during the 1904–07 war. The statue depicts a man and woman in embrace, symbolizing freedom. The couple stand atop a rendering of a traditional Namibian residence. The concrete brick base of the memorial has the inscription "Their Blood Waters Our Freedom" in raised black letters.
Interior
Exhibits
The first floor, titled "Colonial Repression", commemorates early resistance leaders of Namibia and the timeline of the country under South African rule. The second floor, titled "Liberation", commemorates the
South African Border War
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...
and the role of the
People's Liberation Army of Namibia
The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) during the Sou ...
(PLAN) during that conflict. The third floor, titled "Road to Independence", details the activities of
SWAPO
The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...
,
United Nations Security Council Resolution 435, and includes a viewing platform of the Panoramic Hall of the museum.
Restaurant
The last floor (fourth floor) accessible by visitors houses a restaurant, known as the NIMMS (National Independence Memorial Museum), from which there are views over the city. The restaurant showcases a broad spectrum of Namibian culture including ornaments, clothing and books. Some of these items are up for sale.
References
{{Authority control
Museums established in 2014
Buildings and structures in Windhoek
Mansudae Overseas Projects
Museums in Namibia
National Monuments of Namibia
Tourist attractions in Namibia
2014 establishments in Namibia
Otjiherero words and phrases