Organization:National Museum of Gitega

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Short description: Museum in Gitega
Short description: national museum in Gitega Province, Burundi
National Museum of Gitega
The exterior of the museum, pictured in 2013
Established1955 (1955)
LocationPlace de la Révolution 223
Gitega, Gitega Province, Burundi
Coordinates [ ⚑ ] : 3°25′06″S 29°54′31″E / 3.418236°S 29.908485°E / -3.418236; 29.908485
Typenational museum

The National Museum of Gitega (French: Musée National de Gitega, Kirundi: Iratiro ry'akaranga k'Uburundi) is the national museum of Burundi. It is located in Gitega and was founded under Belgian colonial rule in 1955.[1] The museum is the largest of Burundi's public museums although its collection is displayed in a single room.[2] In 2014 it averaged 20–50 visitors per week.[3]

Founded in 1955, the museum was intended to preserve artefacts from Burundian folk culture which were declining as a result of modernisation and social change. Its collection includes ethnographic and historical objects originating in the country, including artefacts from the court of the Burundian monarchs.[3] The lack of funds has meant that the museum has made few recent acquisitions.[3]

In 2015, a catalogue of the museum's collection was published with the support of the German Embassy in Burundi entitled Le Patrimoine Burundais: le Musée de Gitega.[4]

References

Further reading

  • Mapfarakora, Jacques (1992). "Le musée national de Gitega, coopération bilatérale et genèse du musée". Quels musées pour l'Afrique? Patrimoine en devenir: actes des rencontres, Bénin, Ghana, Togo, 18 - 23 novembre 1991. Paris: ICOM.