The Pan African Heritage Museum (PAHM) complex, the first of its kind in the world, is under construction in Accra, Ghana. The museum will showcase the history, arts, and culture of Africa from Ancient Egypt to the present and will create an environment where people of African descent and others can unlearn and relearn the true history, culture and civilisation of Africa.
The museum will celebrate the arts, sciences, religions and technologies of ancient Africa, the ancestral home of all humans. Construction of the $50m complex, which was designed by Nigerian architect James Inedu-George, is estimated to be completed and officially opened in December, 2024.
George is a high-flying, creative and exceptionally resourceful architect. Born on February 28, 1981, George is the founder and design director of Hub City Limited (HTL) Nigeria. He is a globally acknowledged designer with strong presence in Nigeria, Dubai, Melbourne and South Africa where his immediate focus is on innovative sustainable solutions and future cities.
The blue print
The building’s unique design is in the shape of a horn, which is synonymous with a trumpet, a musical instrument often used in religious ceremonies across many cultures.
However, the horn has special meaning in Africa’s ancient traditions and culture. In Africa, the horn has historically been associated with the cow’s horn, the ram’s horn, and the elephant’s tusk, all representing great strength, yet great humility.
The African horn is usually blown during special ceremonies signifying a message that something or someone great is coming.
“Choosing the horn for the shape of our museum will be a beacon to the Pan African family worldwide, representing the urgent call to gather ourselves in unity for true reconciliation and liberation,” the founders say.
The unique museum complex will sit on a 10-acre plot, located 45 miles away from Accra, at the Winneba Junction, on the Accra, Cape Coast Road.
The complex will consist of a one-acre 5-storey museum with each floor housing a variety of facilities; a three-acre herbal plants village with chalets, for long stays, a conference hall, whole food store, and restaurant; two-acre Palace of African Kingdoms, showcasing 50 African kingdoms (ancient and modern) with a food court with variety of African cuisine; one-acre Pan African Heroes and Heroines Park with a Pan African library, children’s library and innovation centre, convention centre for festivals and a Hall of Fame for recognising great achievers from Africa.
Mission
The museum’s mission is to create an environment for people of African descent and all others to discover and experience the true history of the origins of humanity, the development of cultures and great civilisations of the Nile Valley that influenced the past, inform the present and will shape the future, serving as an inspiration for generations to come.
The PAHM Foundation, which is building the museum, is an international, not-for-profit, non-political, non-governmental organisation, registered in Ghana, with branches around the world that focus on preserving and curating the unique history, arts, culture and indigenous knowledge of Africans and people of African descent.
“We as Africans and people of African descent are losing our history; we are losing very fast our heritage. And we are losing more important the fact that we are a people with one heritage. We are the true origin of Humankind; we are the cradle of world civilisation, which has been hidden from us all this while. The Pan African Heritage Museum is here to reclaim our missing pages of history,” Kojo Yankah sayswho is also the founder of African University College of Communications (AUCC.)
“This is the first museum in the world which is telling the story of world civilisation as originating from Africa, and bringing the heritage of Africans and people of African descent together under one roof,” says Yankah.
An artistic impression of the library, museum and convention centre.
The digital and virtual spaces
The museum is going to be both a physical and virtual space for visitors from around the globe. The digital virtual version will be a model of a physical version, giving people around the world access to art, artifacts, and commentaries by leading scholars.
According to Prof Yankah, it will cost an equivalent of $10 to enter the digital museum; but it will cost more in the physical museum when it is completed.
This has been the first museum to a launch virtual version before a physical facility. The physical version, as the online version, will be the only museum in the world with a mission to share unmodified information about the African origins of humanity and the impact of great African empires on the development of civilisations in the rest of the world.
Prof Yankah says they decided to create a museum with both the digital and physical versions because the digital version has a wider reach.
“Few people round the world can travel to Ghana; but it is necessary to have a physical version because those who can travel will have the opportunity to see artifacts and interact with other visitors and museum officials. This will be most beneficial because we cannot exhibit all that Africa has to offer online. We will have a lot to show physically,” he says.
Visitors will experience the origin of humankind, Africa as the cradle of world civilisation, from where kingdoms sprang up and from where migration began to other parts of the world. They will also learn about contemporary Africa and its art. The physical museum is expected to hold about 250,000 pieces or artifacts collected from all over Africa.
The founders of the museum say the choice of Ghana as a host country is in recognition of its being the first black African country to gain independence from European colonisation. Since its independence in 1957, witnessed by an American delegation that included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ghana has always opened its arms to the diaspora, beckoning the ancestors of millions who were kidnapped, and dispersed throughout the world to return home. After centuries of separation, peoples of African descent have an obligation to share a common space to bridge the wide gap that has existed among them through deliberate miseducation and historical suppression.
The Executive Council of PAHM appointed Prof Pashington Obeng as the Interim CEO of the museum. He is an anthropologist, a cultural communicator and a member of the Academic Council of PAHM.
Patrons
The council of patrons of the museum include: His Royal Majesty Kimera Muwenda Mutebi II, the Kabaka of Buganda, His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, Asantehene; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President of Ghana; the former President of Botswana, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, former UN Secretary General’s Representative in West Africa and Sahel, His Royal Majesty Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ojaja II, Ooni of Ife, Nigeria, Sir Sam Jonah of Ghana and Dr Mamphela Ramphele of South Africa.
Looted African artefacts
During the colonial period the colonial officials and their agents collected cultural objects across the vast African continent some of which were deposited them at national museums while others were taken as personal properties by the colonialists to their countries of origin.
European and American museums hold many of Africa’s cultural properties that were either taken there by the colonial masters or donated by private collectors. Others are in the hands of private collectors.
Prof Yankah says; “The message is loud and clear that they have no business holding on to stolen objects that do not belong to them. I think it is only a matter of time. They used to say Africans have no space to hold them. Now we are creating spaces to hold them all. They belong to us and we do not need any excuses from anybody in requesting for them.”
Looted artefacts
During the colonial period the colonial officials and their agents collected cultural objects across the vast African continent some of which were deposited at national museums while others were taken as personal properties to their countries of origin.
European and American museums hold many of Africa’s cultural properties that were either taken there by the colonial masters or donated by private collectors. Others are in the hands of private collectors.
Prof Kojo Yankah says; “The message is loud and clear that they have no business holding on to stolen objects that do not belong to them. I think it is only a matter of time. They used to say Africans have no space to hold them. Now we are creating spaces to hold them all. They belong to us and we do not need any excuses from anybody in requesting for them.”
According to Prof. Yankah, the PAHM Chapters in the UK and Europe as well as in North America are actively involved in the campaign to repatriate the looted African artifacts back to Africa.
