Top 10 Most Popular Museums in Nigeria
There are over 40 registered and recognized museums across Nigeria. Below we provide the Top 10 Most Popular Museums in Nigeria. The first of which was founded in 1945 when Baragbon, a brave hunter jammed the largest and oldest artifact in Esie, Kwara State.
These museums contain several historical items, artifacts, the slave trade, civil war relics, and other things that can aid research, be used as a reference, and open people’s eyes to the ancient items.
So if you’re a tourist and need the popular and highly patronized museum you can visit in Nigeria, endeavor to consider the following places for exhibition and exploration.
Top 10 Most Popular Museums in Nigeria
1. National Museum, Lagos
This is one of the oldest museums in Nigeria. The National Museum located at Onikan, Lagos was founded in 1957 by a white archeologist named Kenneth Murray.
The National Museum preserves and showcases artwork, archeological excavation, historical artifacts, and many more.
Also, the Mercedes Benz that the former head of state, Gen. Muritala Muhammad was driving when he was assassinated was duly preserved there, too
2. Esiẹ Museum
The Esie Museum is the first museum to ever exist in Nigeria and it’s still up and running to date. The museum has an aesthetic old artifact of stone figures that was traced back to 400BC.
This Museum has two segments; one segment is used to stored the stone soap figures and the other is used for housing historical relics.
However, it has become a custom and tradition of the people of Esie as they are used to holding a festival every April in honour of the museum monuments.
3. Jos Museum
Also, if you are looking for a captivating and popular museum to explore in Nigeria, Jos Museum is another center of artifacts you can visit for research.
The museum was founded in 1952 and housed a series of artworks. Among the popular archaeological item kept in the museum is the Nok terracotta heads dated back to 500 BC.
4. National War Museum, Umuahia
The National war museum was founded in Umuahia, Abia State in 1985. The National Museum caged varieties of relics that predate the Civil War in Nigeria.
It housed various weapons like guns, war tanks, and the likes that were used by the Biafran soldiers and Nigeria’s military during the civil war.
5. National Museum, Benin City
Another historical tourist center in Nigeria is the Benin City National Museum. This tourist attraction facility was founded in 1973 with variants of ancient Benin Empire artifacts used to depict the real Benin bronze sculptures and other items used during the slave trade.
6. Badagry Heritage Museum
Badagry Heritage is the most patronized museum in the whole of Nigeria. This is a result of the nexus that exists between the museum and the slave trade.
The museum was established in Badagry, Lagos State in 1863. During that time, the slaves were actively traded between the whites. The Badagry Heritage museum however housed slave trade relics like the bridle, Iron chains, canons with other slave materials.
Conclusion
In conclusion, be informed that there are many museums registered to the Nigerian government, but the above mentioned are the top and highly patronized museums in Nigeria.
