National Museum of Tanzania

• Address: Kivukoni, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• Phone: + 255-022-2130112
• Website: www.museum.or.tz
• Discovery: 1940
• Working hours: every day from 09:30 to 18:00
• Ticket price: adults - $ 4, children - $ 1.6, photo - $ 3, video - $ 20

The National Museum of Tanzania (National Museum of Tanzania) is considered one of the most interesting and most popular museums in the country. It is famous for its huge collection of archaeological, ethnographic and historical exhibits. It is a true historical monument that was founded in 1934 in the former capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, but was only opened a few years later - in 1940, and in 1963 a new wing was completed.

The National Museum of Tanzania is located near Shabben Robert Street, near the picturesque botanical garden. The collection of the institution so increased that it no longer fit into the small building of the National Museum of Tanzania and was moved to the museum quarter with one common courtyard, where even the front door was created in the eighteenth century. The building was originally erected as a memorial museum dedicated to the reigning King George Fifth. Here in one of the rooms the beloved car of the monarch is exposed.

What is in the National Museum of Tanzania?

In the National Museum are very important archaeological finds, focused on the evolution of mankind. Many of the exhibits were found in the Olduvai gorge, in which they found the skeleton of the most ancient man on earth. Its age varies from one and a half to two and a half million years. Many of the finds are kept in the museum at the Olduvai gorge , but some of them were moved to the National Museum of Tanzania. Here, the human hall was opened, in which various fossils are stored. The main treasure of the exposition is the skull of zinjanthropa - the paranthropus, it is the oldest ancestor of man on the Earth, almost Australopithecus. Also in the hall there is a human trace, its age is more than three and a half million years. Here you can see the oldest tools on the planet.

The main part of the galleries and halls of the National Museum narrates about the difficult life of the local population. In the institution there are exhibits dating back to the times of slave trading, the period of European studies, the era of colonization: British and German rule, the struggle for independence, as well as the formation of a new independent state are still presented. In the National Museum of Tanzania, you can find a huge amount of material about the medieval city of Kilwa Kisivani . Of particular interest are the old photographs and items from the arsenal of slavers.

The section of natural science collected a collection of stuffed African animals and birds, as well as various insects, which cause significant damage to the country's agriculture. In the next room you can see a beautiful collection of ritual masks of African tribes and traditional musical instruments, household items and Tanzanian clothes.

A picturesque garden is planted around the museum, in which there is a monument that symbolizes the memory of the dead Tanzanians at the end of the twentieth century as a result of the terrorist act.

Complex of museums in Tanzania

The National Museum now includes several other museums that form the complex - the Village Museum, the Declaration Museum, the National Museum of the History of Tanzania and the Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerer Memorial in Butiam. Let's consider in more detail each of them:

1. The village museum is an ethnographic village in the open air with real homes from all over Tanzania . It is located ten kilometers from the center of Dar es Salaam . The museum allows you to find out information about the life of Aboriginal people, get an idea of ​​local peculiarities and colors, to touch the traditional culture and see the country in miniature. Here live ordinary people, houses are built of clay and animal manure, inside there is all the furniture necessary for life. Near the huts there are pens for pets, sheds, where grains and stoves are stored, which are used for cooking. There is also an opportunity to enjoy local dishes and buy national clothes, paintings, dishes and souvenirs.
2. The Museum of the Declaration , or Arusha Declaration Museum, is dedicated to a very important fact in the history of Tanzania. In January 1967, a declaration was adopted in the city of Arusha , which proclaimed a course for the socialist reconstruction of the country and was given the historic name Arusha Declaration. The museum is a symbol of the struggle for state independence. Here are the documents telling about the colonial period of Tanzania.
3. The National Museum of Natural History is one of the main attractions of the country, which allows its guests to get a complete picture of the nature and history of the Northern part of the country. The museum is located on the territory of the ancient German fort Bom, which has historical value. In the exhibition halls you can get acquainted with the nature of East Africa, as well as with the origins of human civilization. The administration of the institution engages in educational lessons, conducts various thematic lectures for those who wish, offers its students to use computers located in one of the rooms.
4. The Mwalimu Julius Memorial to Kambaraj Nineru is in Bituama. He tells about the life and biography of the first president of the independent state of Tanzania, who completely destroyed the economy of the country in the sixties of the twentieth century, although it saved it from constant internal conflicts and strife. Here is a collection of cars of the first ruler of the united and independent state.

How to get there?

From the Julius Nyerere International Airport, you can take a bus to the city of Dar es Salaam (the price is one hundred and fifty shillings) or a taxi (about ten thousand shillings, the bargaining is appropriate), a distance of about ten kilometers. Also, the city can be reached by ferry or train to the central railway station. Follow the signs or the map. The city can be walked on foot or by mototaxi-boda-boda, the average price is about two thousand Tanzanian schillings.

Visit the National Museum of Tanzania, you can independently or on a sightseeing tour of the city of Dar es Salaam. The admission ticket price for children and adults is two thousand six hundred (about one and a half dollars) and six thousand five hundred (about four dollars) Tanzanian shillings, respectively. The shooting in the museum is paid, the cost is three dollars for a photo and twenty dollars for a video.