Malindi Museum
Malindi Museum is one of the most visited tourist sites, showcasing artifacts from the past. It was once dedicated to the history of the ethnic groups along the Kenyan coast and the marine animals that inhabit the area.
Historical Background of Malindi Museum
Historically, the Malindi Museum lies in a two-story building dating from 1891 and was once named the House of Columns. Although the building was built by Adhussein Gulamhussein and operated as an Indian trading center since its existence in 1891.
At first it used to be Malindi’s native hospital, which featured five round pillars. Furthermore, before this building turned into a museum, it first served as a hospital and headquarters of the Department of Fisheries.
Later on, in 1991, it was declared a national monument. Then in 1999 the House of Column was transferred to the National Museum of Kenya and officially it was opened for tourism in 2004 as a museum. Since 2009 the building has been inhabited as the Ethnographic Museum of Coastal Kenya.
Note, the building was designed with four entrances, of which one on the east façade can be accessed through a colonnade of 5 rounded pillars. One entrance has a Gujarati Indian 9-hand fitted to it. Then the third entrance is on the northern façade up a masonry stairway, which has a small trap door of the Indian type serving both the ground and first floors of the building.
The fourth entrance is found on the southern façade, which can be reached via an external wooden staircase. Getting on the first floor, there are examples of interesting carved Bajuni doors
In fact, the museum contains a number of historical artifacts from Malindi that exhibit traditional display items such as tools and costumes and musical instruments.
The ethnographic section in the museum: This section contains a number of the artifacts of the people “Mijikenda,” who are an ethnic group that belonged to Arabs who settled in Malindi. In addition to that, the museum features artifacts from other local communities that house the Kenyan coast and other objects from the Swahili civilization. However, the museum also has a section that displays fish species and the history of Malindi.
Though the museum features a temporary exhibition including the famous Malindi item collection. More than that, it also has exhibits from the Portuguese time of Kenya’s coastal zone and photography of some of the country’s archeological sites. The museum also owns the Webb Memorial Library, where you can visit and discover the history and culture of the Kenyan coast.
This museum is a modest two-level building that houses very interesting items that are archeological pieces got out from the sea; such items include ancient anchors, wooden pulleys and old parchments. The main outstanding attraction is the fossil fish species that lives at large with anatomy that has never changed since the time of the dinosaurs.
It is easy to locate on foot or by car from anywhere in town. It has a beautiful building with some history of a collection of pictures. The museum was designed with four rooms, two up and two down, along with some beautiful displays in the hall where you can visit and also be able to have a visit to the Vasco de Gama Pillar as well.
They have friendly staff; however, a visit paid to the museum shows years of neglect.
On a visit here, you can learn a lot from the 13th century; you can still have an excursion and enjoy a hot afternoon.
Definitely, the museum also displays the four Malindi attractions, which you can visit, such as a visit to Vasco da Gama pillar, the Portuguese chapel and the House of Columns. While on your visit, you will be guided by knowledgeable guides to give you true information about the history of this museum.
In addition to that, you can choose to do a combined wildlife viewing safaris with Kenya City Tours, visit the best wildlife viewing safari destinations that is, a visit to Maasai Mara National Reserve, Amboseli National Park, Tsavo National Park among other visited city tours.
Get started now to adventure into Kenya‘s city tour combined with a wildlife safari in the most outstanding visited national park.
