The blue gate
Arched.
Atamari — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Niels Elgaard Larsen - User: (WT-shared) Elgaard at wts wikivoyage — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Peter van der Sluijs — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Atamari — CC BY-SA 3.0
The National Museum of The Gambia is a cultural museum in central Banjul, the capital, with documents and displays on the country's history. It is a good place to understand The Gambia before travelling inland, from prehistory to independence. It sits in a small, quiet garden amid the capital's busy streets. The museum opened in 1985, fifteen years after the Friends of the National Museum Association was founded in 1970. The Monuments and Relics Act of 1974 paved the way for it. For two decades before it opened, historians and archaeologists gathered objects and information on Gambian and West African history and culture. You enter through an arched blue gate bearing the museum's name, then see a yellow two-storey colonial building among palm trees and shrubs. The galleries hold old maps of the coast and river, traditional tools, musical instruments, masks and an old cannon. The displays tell of the lives and customs of the country's peoples. Albert Market is about 400 metres away in a straight line. About an hour is enough. Ask about photo rules in the galleries, and check opening hours before you go.
Arched.
Of coast and river.
Traditional.
Central Banjul, The Gambia
In 1985.
Yes, as an introduction to Gambian history before travelling inland.
