The Goethe-Institut in Lomé occupies a low villa on Rue Aniko Palako in the centre of town. It runs a busy programme of film screenings, photography exhibitions, concerts and German classes — most of it free or low-cost — and is one of the most reliable places in the city to see contemporary Togolese visual art and live music in a comfortable setting. The garden cafe is a popular meeting place for the city's creative community.
If you are in town for more than a few days, check the institut's calendar early: their photography retrospectives have launched several of the best Togolese photographers of the past decade, and the open-air concerts in the garden can be very good. The French Institut Français a few blocks away runs a similar programme on a slightly larger scale; between them they account for most of Lomé's formal cultural life.