Author: Rachel Mariembe, Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, Heritage and Museum Studies, Institute of Fine Art , University of Douala

One of the most significant African museum openings of 2024 was the Musée des Rois Bamoun, or Museum of the Bamoun Kings, in Foumban, Cameroon. Housing over 10,000 objects, it offers more than 600 years of history in its display of the treasures of the Bamoun kingdom, one of the oldest in sub-Saharan Africa. The museum’s striking architecture is dominated by a two-headed snake at its entrance and a spider perched on top of it. Cameroonian archaeologist and heritage scholar Rachel Mariembe visited the museum and wrote a research paper on it. We asked her about it. Who are the…