Uganda National Museum
Uganda National Museum is an amazing historical site that holds a lot of historical facilities that many travelers and locals can learn from about Uganda. Uganda National Museum is the oldest Museum in Uganda and East Africa established in 1908 along Kampala hill but later on transferred to makerere hill and finally to Kitante hill along Kira road where it is still situated currently. The Uganda National Museum was put in place in order to store the historical records, traditional cultural heritage, science, archeology, and natural history for research and tourism purposes.
The Uganda national museum has different sections showcasing different historical memories that existed in Uganda the pearl of Africa that attracts several visitors around the world to visit Uganda in order to have a glance at the history of Uganda. These include;
Traditional Music Gallery
The Uganda museum keeps and displays the major musical instruments that were used and are still being used in the music industry in Uganda. These include the traditional music gallery such as Percussion musical instruments, wind musical instruments, and string musical instruments. These instruments are still being used as means of communication and also in performances during dance and drama such instruments include; Drums, Xylophones, Bells, Flutes, harps, tube-fiddles, Matches, and many more that were played by a different cultural group with in Uganda and some are still being used today. Visitors who organize a tour to the Uganda museum have an opportunity of playing these instruments and even employ some people to teach them how to play them. It is a really awesome experience that one should engage in while on a tour of the national museum.
Ethnography Gallery
This gallery is also found within the Uganda national museum harboring and displaying over 100,000 objects that are used to display the traditional cultural wellbeing, dressing, religion, and historical items well-kept in the Uganda national museum. These objects include; Barkcloth, Gomesi and Kanzu traditional outfits for Baganda, Traditional justice which includes several objects that are found in judicial offices of the kings in Uganda such as horns, spears, among others, Traditional wooden stools that are gathered from different parts of Uganda such as west, east, north and central, most of these objects are showcased during the exhibition at the Uganda National museum to exhibit different traditional cultural practices in Uganda such as introduction, give away and other traditional practices in Uganda. The door that leads to the Ethnography gallery is made up of Traditional reeds which is quite impressive and gives a proper introduction of what to expect behind the closed door.
Archeological section
The Archeological section contains several tools and objects that were in existence for over one million years ago. Some of these tools were basically used for hunting and cutting such as wood, axes, horns, arrow, and bows. The objects include the remains of some mammals such as the remains of the Rhino species known as Napak that is no longer in existence since about 8 million years ago. Other remains include; bones, skulls, teeth and finally the evolution of man from Apes which is best elaborated through pictures and video clips. Also this section elaborate and displays the major historical and cultural sites such as the Bigo bya Mugyenyi, Kasubi tombs, and the Kabaka’s shrine and many more.
The science and technology section
This section was put in place to elaborate various samples of minerals that exist in Uganda such as copper, iron, phosphate, tin, and many more minerals that visitors who visit Uganda and especially museum are able to know more about the resources that exist under the ground in Uganda. This section is also most visited by school students and researches time after time. There are also some old canoes that Arabs used as their means of transport to transfer to cross from one country to another. Visitors in this section can also perform some practical
In this section, we also find the Paleaolontology section where visitors get to learn more about the planet and all that exists under the moon such as climatic conditions in Uganda, environmental science and the excavation of fossils including the one that is over twenty million years ago from Napak, the fossils of footprints from human, and the clips of several historical features such as the basin in Kenya known as Lake Baringo and the Rift valley.
Cultural village
This section exists at the back of the Uganda national museum and the major aim of including this section to the museum was to showcase and exhibit different cultures and traditional ways of living to different people who visit the museum especially the foreigner who would wish to learn briefly about the Ugandan cultural practices and norms. This cultural village exhibits several grass-thatched hats that are made in different designs elaborating different cultures from different regions such as the west, east, north, and central. These houses contain some different objects that were used by different tribes in Uganda.
The western houses
These houses are meant for the tribes from the western part of Uganda and these include the Hima House that was specifically designed to showcase the Bahama culture and inside the house exists several objects used in milking, preserving milk (ebyanzi), longhorns to clearly demonstrate that the bahima are cattle keepers and specifically rearing the long-horned cattle.
The Batooro house exhibits the Batooro tribe well designed with the wooden bed, royal drums, and bark cloth as blankets among others. Other western houses include the Banyankore house showcasing the Banyankore culture and inside the house, there are utensils made of clay such as cooking pots, bowls, and many more that clearly.
Other western houses include the Kigezi House that specifically elaborates the Bakiga culture and the Bunyoro house designed to showcase Bunyoro culture and many more that one needs to visit and learn a lot from the history
The eastern houses
- The eastern houses are also situated in the cultural village outside the museum and these were well designed and filled with different objects that traditionally explain the culture of people from the eastern part of Uganda. These include;
- The Bugisu house was designed to elaborate on the Bugisu culture. The major objects found inside this house are the tools they use in the circumcision processes such as the Knives, and many other things that are involved in the process.
- The Karamojong house is also amongst the eastern houses containing the milking tools and cattle rearing stick to elaborate that the Karamojong people are cattle keepers.
- Teso House that elaborates the culture of itesots contains several objects such as calabashes that are used in preparing and drinking their locally brewed malwa and the mingling stick used to prepare their delicacy known as Kalo. There are also the Busoga house filled with the drums and another royal regalia such as spears, the Jopadhola house and among others.
- The central house: The Central house exhibits the culture of the baganda people and inside the house, there are a lot of objects that belong to baganda and these include; black backcloth, baskets, hunting tools such as spears and shields to elaborate that baganda were great hunters, wooden sandals, drums, board game among others
- The Northern houses: Well, the Northern houses are put in place to demonstrate the culture of the people from the northern part of Uganda and these include the Alur house, Madi house, Acholi house, and Lango house
Architectural design
The Uganda national museum was constructed by the unique German design with proper lighting facilities and air circulation in order to ensure that the objects are well protected and preserved
A visit to the oldest museum in both Uganda and east Africa offers an amazing experience as it helps one to explore and learn about different historical and cultural things that exists in Uganda.
