The National Museum is small but worth the hour. It covers Sierra Leone's history from precolonial times through the slave trade, the founding of the colony for liberated Africans, the rise of the Krio elite, the colonial period, independence, and the brutal civil war of 1991–2002. Ethnographic objects from the Mende, Temne, and other inland peoples sit alongside court regalia and weapons from the Bunce Island slave factory.
The presentation is old-fashioned, but the staff are knowledgeable and the building — a colonial bungalow at the junction of Pademba and Siaka Stevens — is itself part of the story. A small donation is expected.