In the middle of the noisy commercial chaos of Lagos Island sits one of the city's quietest and most satisfying public spaces — a memorial-and-arts park built on the ruins of Her Majesty's Broad Street Prison, the colonial-era jail where Nigerian nationalists were held. The Cellblock building has been left standing, with explanatory panels; the rest of the site is a landscaped park with an amphitheatre, a small museum, food kiosks, and a regular programme of concerts, plays, and book readings. The Felabration and the Lagos Theatre Festival both use the venue. Bring water; bring a book.
Freedom Park
Former colonial prison turned cultural park on Lagos Island
| Address | Broad Street, Lagos Island |
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A story
From 1882 until independence in 1960, this was Her Majesty's Broad Street Prison. The cell blocks held the men later remembered as nationalists — Herbert Macaulay among them. The conversion to a park in 2010 deliberately kept the original prison walls, a guardhouse, and a tower so visitors would know what stood here.