What a museum can teach beyond its walls

For many people, the word "museum" brings a picture to mind: a quiet building, glass cases, old objects, "Do not touch" signs, a guard who looks at you suspiciously when you laugh too loudly.

But museums can be so much more. They can be classrooms, meeting places, story-telling spaces, laboratories of memory, and bridges between generations. And today, their influence can reach far beyond their walls — into schools, homes, phones and public debates.

In Africa, museums carry a special role. They hold objects that tell the continent's history — including objects taken away during colonisation and now slowly returning.

What can museums teach beyond their walls, and how are African museums changing?

A brief history: museums and Africa

Many of Africa's most famous historical objects are not in Africa. During the colonial period, European armies, missionaries, traders and scientists took thousands of objects — royal treasures, religious items, everyday tools, human remains — to museums in Europe and America.

A 2018 report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, written by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy, estimated that a very large share of sub-Saharan Africa's cultural heritage is held outside the continent. It also noted that the Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac in Paris alone held around 70,000 objects from sub-Saharan Africa.

The Musée du quai Branly in Paris holds about 70,000 objects from sub-Saharan Africa. (Sarr & Savoy, Report on the Restitution of African Cultural Heritage, 2018) Many African children have never seen the masterpieces made by their own ancestors.

The return of Benin's royal treasures

In 1892, French troops attacked the Kingdom of Dahomey and took royal objects from the palaces of Abomey. More than a century later, after years of requests from Benin, France passed a special law, and in November 2021, 26 royal treasures were returned to Benin.

They included:

• Royal statues of the kings Ghézo, Glèlè and Béhanzin (half-human, half-animal figures).
• Royal thrones.
• Carved palace doors.
• Ritual objects.

In 2022, the treasures were displayed in Cotonou at the Palais de la Marina in an exhibition that also featured contemporary Beninese artists. Large numbers of visitors — many of them young — came to see them. For many, it was the first time they'd seen these works in person.

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." — widely attributed to Marcus Garvey

This moment showed something important: museums aren't only about objects. They're about identity, justice and pride.

Joke break: One of the returned royal statues spent 129 years in Paris. A student asked, "Did it learn French?" Her teacher said, "It understands everything but refuses to answer. Very royal."

Lesson 1: Museums teach history — and who tells it

Museums decide which stories to tell, and how. For a long time, many African objects were displayed in foreign museums as "primitive art" or "ethnographic curiosities," with little information about their makers, meanings or how they were taken.

African museums and curators are now telling these stories from African perspectives: who made the objects, what they meant, how they were used, and what happened to them.

The Royal Palaces of Abomey, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, show how the Kingdom of Dahomey recorded its history in bas-reliefs, appliqué and architecture. Visiting them teaches not only about kings but about politics, war, trade, religion and art.

Lesson 2: Museums can go to schools

Museums reach far beyond their walls when they work with schools:

• Loan boxes: replicas, photos and activity cards sent to classrooms.
• Virtual tours for schools far from the museum.
• Teacher training on local history.
• Student projects connected to museum collections.

A child who holds a replica of a royal symbol or draws a bas-relief learns history with their hands and imagination. See Learning beyond exams: projects children remember.

Lesson 3: Museums can go digital

Digital technology allows museums to reach people everywhere:

• Online collections with photos and stories.
• 3D scans of objects that anyone can explore on a phone.
• Virtual museums and exhibitions.
• Short videos and podcasts.
• Social media content.

Digital museums are especially useful for people who can't travel to a museum — and for objects that are still held abroad. Virtual museums can reunite collections "online" even when objects are physically separated.

In Benin, projects are exploring 3D virtual museums that present heritage — such as the Vodun deities — to young people through interactive web experiences. These approaches combine culture, technology and education.

But remember: digital access depends on connectivity and data costs. See How to design useful technology for low connectivity.

Lesson 4: Museums can be community spaces

Modern museums are becoming meeting places:

• Concerts, poetry, film nights.
• Debates about history and current issues.
• Workshops for artisans and artists.
• Spaces for elders to share oral history.
• Cafés and gardens where people simply spend time.

When museums welcome community life, they become part of the neighbourhood rather than a closed building. See Why cultural spaces need young visitors.

Lesson 5: Museums preserve intangible heritage

Not all heritage is an object. Music, dance, languages, recipes, ceremonies, oral histories and craft techniques are "intangible heritage." UNESCO's 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage encourages countries to protect these living traditions.

Museums can record elders' stories, film craft techniques and document festivals — preserving knowledge that might otherwise disappear. See The makers preserving everyday craft traditions and The value of keeping African stories in local languages.

Lesson 6: Museums raise difficult questions

Museums can help societies talk about painful histories: the slave trade, colonisation, conflict. In Benin, Ouidah was one of the major slave-trading ports of West Africa. Sites like the "Route des Esclaves" and the "Porte du Non-Retour" (Door of No Return) memorial invite visitors to remember and reflect.

Discussing difficult history is not easy. But museums can do it with care, evidence and respect — helping young people understand where today's world comes from.

The challenges African museums face

• Limited funding and staff.
• Old buildings needing repair and climate control (heat and humidity can damage objects).
• Few trained conservators and curators.
• Low visitor numbers in some places.
• Limited digital infrastructure.

UNESCO has noted that Africa hosts only a small share of the world's museums. Investment, training and partnerships are needed — including with the museums that hold African collections abroad.

How you can engage with museums

• Visit your local museum — and bring children.
• Follow museums on social media.
• Share your family's stories and objects (photos, recordings) with local heritage projects.
• Volunteer at cultural events.
• Ask schools to organise museum visits.
• Support restitution debates with informed discussion.

An illustrative school visit that went beyond the walls

Imagine a class of 13-year-olds from Bohicon (illustrative) visiting the Royal Palaces of Abomey. Before the visit, their teacher asks each student to interview a grandparent about any story they know of the kings of Dahomey.

At the palaces, a guide explains the bas-reliefs. The students compare what they see with the stories from home. Some stories match; some are different. They discuss why: memory changes, stories grow, different families remember different things.

Back at school, they create a class book combining museum facts, grandparents' stories and their own drawings. They present it to parents and invite the museum guide to see it.

The museum visit lasted two hours. The learning lasted a whole term — and connected three generations.

How museums can measure their reach

Museums that want to reach beyond their walls should also measure it:

• How many school groups visited? From how far away?
• How many people viewed online collections or virtual tours?
• How many teachers used loan boxes or classroom materials?
• What did visitors remember a month later?

Numbers help museums improve and argue for funding. See How to measure whether an initiative helped.

Joke break: A museum guide asked a group of children what they remembered most from their visit. One boy said, "The toilets were very clean." The guide sighed, then laughed. "Fine. Next time, we'll hang a royal statue in there."

A museum without walls

The best museums don't just keep objects safe. They help people understand who they are, where they come from and where they might go. They reach into classrooms, phones, streets and conversations.

In Benin and across Africa, museums are changing — becoming more open, more local, more digital and more connected to communities. The return of royal treasures was a powerful start. The next chapter will be written by curators, teachers, artists, technologists — and visitors like you.

Keep reading: The artists telling stories of today's Benin, How illustrators bring history to young readers, and our Art & Culture section.

Questions

What royal treasures were returned to Benin?

In November 2021, France returned 26 royal objects taken from Abomey in 1892, including royal statues, thrones and carved palace doors.

What is the Sarr–Savoy report?

A 2018 report commissioned by the French President on the restitution of African cultural heritage held in French museums.

Are the Royal Palaces of Abomey a World Heritage Site?

Yes. They were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1985.