Gambia National Museum - History

History

The Gambia National Museum opened in 1985, fifteen years after the Friends of the National Museum Association was established in 1970. The 1974 Monuments and Relics Act followed, which set into motion the plans for the National Museum. The museum’s primary goal is the collection and preservation of artifacts documenting the material culture of the Gambia, as well as to educate both visitors to the country and residents who may not be familiar with Gambian history.

Discussions about starting a national museum started in the 1960s, and for the two decades leading up to the museum’s inauguration, historians and archaeologists collected artifacts and information on Gambian and West African history and culture. Bakari Sidibe, Abdoulie Bayo and Baba Ceesay were pioneer staff of the new museum.

At the Gambia National Museum, you can learn about the cultural heritage of the Gambia, like who the Super Eagles were and what a masquerade is. In late 1999, Hassoum Ceesay, a new graduate in history became Curator and soon worked with his superior officer, Baba Ceesay, to revamp a part of the original exhibition with a display on the history and Culture and Banjul, the capital. As curator Hassoum also instituted children's museum activities such as art classes and history video shows, and a robust fine art temporary art exhibition programme which exhibited paintings and sculpture by Gambian and foreign artists.