The museums of Bandjoun and Baham (West Cameroon), Babungo and Mankon (North-West Cameroon) have been created as part of the project “Training, protection of the artistic-cultural heritage and development in Cameroon” by the Italian NGO COE, Centro Orientamento Educativo, and co-financed by the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Italian Bishops’ Conference and by COE, with the participation of the local communities.

The museums are located in the highlands of the West and North-West of Cameroon (Grassland or Grassfield), one of the most important homes of African civilisations south of the Sahara.

The project is aimed at stimulating the dynamics of cultural and economic development in the areas directly concerned and in general in the country through the protection of an important resource in this territory: the objects that materialise and make visible the symbols of religiousness and power, documents of the culture and history of different peoples and their political and social organisation.

The heritage of the communities is protected and given its correct value in the place where it lives: the objects leave the museum whenever their ritual and symbolic role is required by tradition and then they are returned to the museum where their preservation is assured.

Each museum offers an “itinerary of the collective memory” which guides visitors in the territory to discover the places of history, legend and myth, in a dimension of encounter and exchange which enriches the experience of the visit.

   
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