Nigerian National Museum

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Nigerian National Museum
Garden in front of museum (6349971557).jpg
View of the museum's exterior
Nigerian National Museum
Established1957
LocationOnikan, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria
CollectionsNigerian art, including pieces of statuary and carvings and archaeological and ethnographic exhibits
Founder Kenneth Murray
Website lagosmuseum.ng

The Nigerian National Museum is a national museum of Nigeria, located in the city of Lagos. The museum has a notable collection of Nigerian art, including pieces of statuary, carvings also archaeological and ethnographic exhibits. [1] Of note is a terracotta human head known as the Jemaa Head (c. 900 to 200 BC), part of the Nok culture. The piece is named after Jema'a, the village where it was discovered. [2] [3] [4] [5] The museum is located at Onikan, Lagos Island, Lagos State. The museum is administered by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments. [6] [7]

Contents

History

In July 1948, the first architectural sketches of the museum were submitted to a conference on museum policy in Nigeria. [8] The museum was founded in 1957 by the English archaeologist Kenneth Murray. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] The main purpose of constructing this museum was to preserve different historical artifacts of Nigeria. [14] [15] Kenneth Murray had collected several traditional masks from Cross River State, these masks were displayed in the museum. [16] [17] [18] During the first decade of the museum's existence, the British Museum gave the Nigerian National Museum two plaques and other artifacts. [19] [20] [21] [22] In 2018, a virtual tour of the museum was added using an adapted version of Google Street View along with other tourist sites in Nigeria. [23]

Collections

The museum houses the collections of artifacts belonging to different cultures of the ethnic groups in Nigeria. The size of the collection is estimated at 47,000 objects, [24] [25] made of different materials such as wood, ivory, metal and terracotta. The artifacts include masks, textiles, drums, dane guns and wooden figures. [26] Among the artifacts, in the Yoruba section, the museum includes Egungun costumes and clay pots. [27] The museum has a collection of statues dating from different periods of Nigeria's history. [28]

The museum also houses traditional musical instruments such as sansas, fiddles and flutes. [29] The museum also contains divination bowls and ancestral figures made of wood, including Mumuye figures, which are used by communities in Adamawa State as well as Ikengas wooden figures, which are part of the Igbo culture. Additionally, the museum also contains a collection of masks including Ekpo masks from Calabar and Gẹlẹdẹ wooden masks. [30]

The museum contains jewelry and crafts, as well as a collection of textiles including Akwete cloth and other textiles from the Okene, Bida and Western States areas of Nigeria. [31]

The museum has displayed works of art by Nigerian artists such as Nike Davies-Okundaye, Abiodun Olaku, Djakow Kassi, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Bolaji Ogunwo, Yusuf Durodola, Chinze Ojobo, [32] Nosa Iyobhabha, Duke Asidere, [33] Ben Enwonwu, Nathaniel Hodonu, [34] Northcote W. Thomas, Kelani Abass [35] and Elizabeth Ekpetorson. [36] In 2012, the museum presented an exhibition featuring artwork by artist Ndidi Dike. [37] [38] [39] [40] In November 2019, the museum organized an exhibition with art pieces by German-Nigerian artist Ngozi Schommers. [41] [42] [43] The museum contains ancient crowns, Royal regalias, artifacts belonging to the Kingdom of Benin, cultural objects belonging to the Ibibio people, Igbo-Ukwu bronze artifacts, stone monoliths of the Oron culture [44] and terracottas belonging to the Nok culture. [45] [46] [47] The museum also contains photographs of the different presidents of the states of Nigeria. [48] In the textile section, there is a collection of batik fabrics. [49] The museum also has Ere figurines., [24] photographs on the colonization of Nigeria [35] and exhibits related to the culture of Ifẹ, an ancient Yoruba city. [29]

The museum contains a variety of sculptures. Among these are the grave sculptures of the Dakakari people who inhabit Sokoto State. These types of sculptures are used in graves to commemorate the death of an important person such as a warrior, social leader or a chief. The museum also contains a sculpture of a Sukur woman in traditional dress from Adamawa State. At the entrance of the museum, also with a sculpture of a deity called Chukwu, of Igbo spirituality. The museum also houses stone sculptures of the Ekoi people. [34] The museum also has sculptures of animals that are used in different cultures of the ethnic groups of Nigeria. [50]

In her travel book, Looking for Transwonderland, writer Noo Saro-Wiwa visits the museum and describes its impact on her. [51]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igbo people</span> Ethnic group in Southern Nigeria

The Igbo people are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. Ethnic Igbo populations are found in Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, as migrants as well as outside Africa. There has been much speculation about the origins of the Igbo people, which are largely unknown. The Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African art</span> Art originating from indigenous Africans or the African continent

African art describes the modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, such as African-American, Caribbean or art in South American societies inspired by African traditions. Despite this diversity, there are unifying artistic themes present when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nok culture</span> Ancient civilization of Nigeria

The Nok culture is a population whose material remains are named after the Ham village of Nok in southern Kaduna State of Nigeria, where their terracotta sculptures were first discovered in 1928. The Nok people and the Gajiganna people may have migrated from the Central Sahara, along with pearl millet and pottery, diverged prior to arriving in the northern region of Nigeria, and thus, settled in their respective locations in the region of Gajiganna and Nok. Nok people may have also migrated from the West African Sahel to the region of Nok. Nok culture may have emerged in 1500 BCE and continued to persist until 1 BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igboland</span> Cultural region in Nigeria

Igbo land, east is the indigenous homeland of the Igbo people. It is a cultural and common linguistic region in southeastern Nigeria. Geographically, it is divided into two sections by the: an eastern and western.Its population is characterized by the diverse Igbo culture

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igbo-Ukwu</span> Place in Anambra, Nigeria

Igbo-Ukwu is a town in the Nigerian state of Anambra in the south-central part of the country. The town comprises three quarters namely Obiuno, Ngo, and Ihite with several villages within each quarter and thirty-six (36) administrative wards. It is also bordered by Ora-eri, Ichida, Azigbo, Ezinifite, Amichi, Isuofia, Ikenga and some other towns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Enwonwu</span> Nigerian painter and sculptor (1917-1994)

Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu MBE, better known as Ben Enwonwu, was a Nigerian painter and sculptor. Arguably the most influential African artist of the 20th century, his pioneering career opened the way for the postcolonial proliferation and increased visibility of modern African art. He was one of the first African artists to win critical acclaim, having exhibited in august exhibition spaces in Europe and the United States and listed in international directories of contemporary art. Since 1950, Enwonwu was celebrated as "Africa's Greatest Artist" by the international media and his fame was used to enlist support for Black Nationalists movement all over the world. The Enwonwu crater on the planet Mercury is named in his honour.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">African sculpture</span> Rarely conserved bronze and wooden figures and wooden masks

Most African sculpture was historically in wood and other organic materials that have not survived from earlier than at most a few centuries ago; older pottery figures are found from a number of areas. Masks are important elements in the art of many peoples, along with human figures, often highly stylized. There is a vast variety of styles, often varying within the same context of origin depending on the use of the object, but wide regional trends are apparent; sculpture is most common among "groups of settled cultivators in the areas drained by the Niger and Congo rivers" in West Africa. Direct images of African deities are relatively infrequent, but masks in particular are or were often made for traditional African religious ceremonies; today many are made for tourists as "airport art". African masks were an influence on European Modernist art, which was inspired by their lack of concern for naturalistic depiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Nigeria before 1500</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igbo art</span> Traditional art of the Igbo people

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">African art in Western collections</span> History of African art in Western collections

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronze Head from Ife</span> Sculpture from Ife

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archaeology of Igbo-Ukwu</span> Archaeology done in the town of Igbo-Ukwu, Southeastern Nigeria

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Niger Bronze Industries</span> Unassigned alloy works from Nigeria

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References

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  17. ↑ "The Kenneth Murray decade". ResearchGate.
  18. ↑ Blier, Suzanne. "Africa's Cross River: Art of the Nigerian-Cameroon Border Redefined (1980)".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ↑ "The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments Announce the Return of Three Works of Art to the Nigerian National Collections". Metropolitan Museum of Art. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  20. ↑ Stoilas, Helen (10 June 2021). "The Met will return three African art objects to Nigeria". CNN. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
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  24. 1 2 Ojoye, Taiwo (28 May 2019). "How 47,000 artefacts are wasting away in ageing national museum". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
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  28. ↑ Wiseman, Blaine (1 August 2015). Nigeria. Weigl Publishers. ISBN   978-1-4896-3061-2.
  29. 1 2 Museum (Lagos), Nigeria National (1960). Guide to the Nigerian Museum, Lagos.
  30. ↑ "Nigerian wooden sculptures and their preservation in the National Museum Lagos, Nigeria" (PDF). Anistoriton Journal. 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  31. ↑ Okereke, Dominic (2012). Africa's Quiet Revolution Observed from Nigeria. Paragon Publishing. ISBN   978-1-908341-87-7.
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  33. ↑ Omokhapue, Paulina (20 September 2020). "SNA Lagos holds October rain exhibition". The Guardian Nigeria News. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  34. 1 2 "National Museum of Lagos: 8 Must-See Masterpieces". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  35. 1 2 "In Dialogue with History: A Review of an Exhibition by Kelani Abass & Northcote W. Thomas | By Roli O'tsemaye". The Sole Adventurer. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
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  43. ↑ "Schommers' "The Way We Mask" opens in November". Vanguard News. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
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  46. ↑ "NOK Culture Central Nigeria". ResearchGate.
  47. ↑ "Nigeria: Nok has more wonders yet for the world!". New African Magazine. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
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  50. ↑ Silverman, Raymond; Abungu, George; Probst, Peter (31 August 2021). National Museums in Africa: Identity, History and Politics. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-000-42864-3.
  51. ↑ "War & Peace: A Stranger at Home: An Essay on Noo Saro-Wiwa's Looking for Transwonderland - Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature: Panorama is a British lit journal/press/org revolutionising travel lit/visual art works". panoramajournal.org. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2023.

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