Edo Museum for West African Arts
Location: Benin-City, Nigeria
Lead Architects: Adjaye Associates
The Edo Museum of West Africa Art (EMOWAA) is a museum project designed by Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Nigerian professionals, with the main aim of housing (restituted) West African art and artefacts. The permanent collection will includes “The Royal Collection”, billed by the project developers as “the most comprehensive display in the world of Benin”. Part of this collection will be “significant collections of works currently in UK and European museums” (British Museum)
The EMOWAA project is developed by the Legacy Restoration Trust, a Nigerian art and archaeology heritage organisation, in partnership with the British Museum. It was officially launched on 13th November, 2020 by Godwin Obaseki, the governor of Edo State, Nigeria Godwin Obaseki, and the head architect David Adjaye unveiled his team’s design for the new museum.
The British Museum also announced that the construction site of the museum will be a major focus of archaelogical excavations.
From the EMOWAA twitter account:
“The EMOWAA project is a series of initiatives and activities aimed at the eventual establishment of a world-class museum which will have “Royal collection” as its jewel crown.“
From the Architects, Adjaye Associates:
“Adjacent to the Oba’s Palace, the new EMOWAA draws inspiration from its historical architectural typologies and establishes its own courtyard in the form of a public garden, exhibiting a variety of indigenous flora and a canopy that offers shade – a welcoming green environment suitable for gatherings, ceremonies and events. The galleries float above the gardens and are articulated by a series of elevated volumes – an inversion of the courtyard typology – within each of which sit pavilions which take their form from fragments of reconstructed historic compounds. These fragments allow the objects themselves to be arranged in their pre-colonial context and offer visitors the opportunity to better understand the true significance of these artefacts within the traditions, political economy and rituals enshrined within the culture of Benin City.
A new dedicated space, EMOWAA will contain the rich, regal and sacred objects of Benin’s past, in a way that allows visitors not just the possibility of “looking in” but “looking out” into the visual landscape of imagining the once historic borders of a restored ancient kingdom.”
Edo Museum for West African Arts (EMOWAA) – All Images from Adjaye Associates and EMOWAA