Museum of Civilisations

The Museum of Civilisations in Dschang is one of the better ethnographic museums in Cameroon, focusing on the material culture of the western Cameroonian kingdoms — the Bamileke, Bamileke-related groups, and the Bamoun people whose historic capital is at Foumban. The collection covers royal regalia, ceremonial masks, ancestor figures, weaving, and the elaborate beadwork that was the signature art form of the region's aristocracy.

The museum is housed in a purpose-built facility near the town centre and is supported by the University of Dschang, which gives it a research dimension that distinguishes it from the typical tourist-oriented heritage site. The curators are knowledgeable and guided visits are available and worth taking — the context provided for the objects significantly enriches the experience of looking at them. The western highlands are one of the most artistically significant regions in West Africa, and this museum provides the best introduction available in the region itself.

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The museum was established in 1993 on the initiative of the local royal family and Dschang University, with the specific aim of documenting the material culture of the western Cameroonian kingdoms before it was lost. The royal courts of the Bamileke and Bamoun peoples produced some of the most sophisticated decorative arts in sub-Saharan Africa — elaborate masks, thrones, ancestor figures, and beadwork — much of which ended up in European ethnographic museums in the colonial era. What remains in Dschang is well worth seeing.

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