The National Museum of Ghana is in the

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian capital,

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

. It is the largest and oldest of the six museums under the administration of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB). The museum building was opened on 5 March 1957 as part of Ghana's independence celebrations. The official opening was performed by the Duchess of Kent, Princess Marina. The Museum's first Director was

A.W. Lawrence Arnold Walter Lawrence (2 May 1900 – 31 March 1991) was a British authority on classical sculpture and architecture. He was Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology at Cambridge University in the 1940s, and in the early 1950s in Accra he ...

.R. M. Cook, ‘Lawrence, Arnold Walter (1900–1991)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2009 Objects of

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

as well as

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

find place in the National Museum building.

Objects in the Archeology Section

Objects in the archeology section range from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

period to the recent historical past. Those on permanent exhibition at the ethnography gallery include chief's regalia, indigenous Ghanaian

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

s, gold

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a Euclidean vector, vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weigh ...

s, beads, traditional

textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

, stools and

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

. There are also objects from other African countries acquired through exchange. Examples are Senufo masks from

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, Zulu wooden figures and bead-ware from Southern Africa. In addition there are also ancient Ife bronze heads from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and Bushongo carvings from the

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

. Exhibits at the small but impressive art gallery consist mainly of contemporary Ghanaian paintings executed in oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolours and

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

s. Apart from these there are sculpture pieces in different media.

References

External links

old, archived Museum website

National Museum of Ghana website
Government buildings completed in 1957 Museums in Ghana Buildings and structures in Accra

1957 establishments in Ghana Museums established in 1957 {{Ghana-museum-stub