This essay discusses the importance of the Kisumu Museum to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of information dealing with heritage of the Kisumu region and surrounding areas. It examines the Kisumu Museum itself as well other sites and monuments under the control of the Kisumu Museum. Our report therefore explores the exhibitions dealing with culture and traditions. It also explores the locational and historical background of the Kisumu Museum and Kisumu City. Ultimately, the report hopes to bring out the overall connection between tradition and modernity as shown at the Kisumu Museum and how the history of the museum is influenced by the nature and location of Kisumu City, and the museum also influences the history of Kisumu City.
When one visits the Kisumu Museum, the first thing that one notices is a large billboard that lists the admission rates and hours of operation (Monday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) of the museum. The billboard also announces that the museum is part of the National Museums of Kenya. Underneath the billboard are words that assert that this is “Where Heritage Lives On.” The museum is located just a few minutes from the Kisumu-Kericho-Nairobi Highway in Kisumu, Kenya. Although plans to establish the museum began in 1975, it was not officially open to the public until April 7, 1990.
The Kisumu Museum, like most other institutions affiliated with the National Museums corporation, serves to collect, preserve, document, study, and exhibit Kenya’s rich cultural and natural heritage. The Kisumu Museum is therefore very important. The Museum features many different exhibits for its visitors. And, apart from the beautiful exhibits that attract people both internationally and locally to the main museum compound in Kisumu, there are also other sites and monuments of historical significance including but not limited to, Fort Tenan, Songhor, Thimlich Ohinga, and Rusinga Island that are managed by the museum.
Aside from providing exhibitions of exotic cultural and national materials for visitors to the site, the museum also plays a significant role in the maintenance and sustainability of Lake Victoria’s biodiversity. This is due to its proximity to Lake Victoria, the second largest freshwater lake in the world.
The museum also provides educational services to neighborhood schools and is often utilized by the community for a variety of events (an example being the attached photographs showing government workers and choir members celebrating there on World Tourism Day 2017).
But the most distinctive and striking features of the Kisumu Museum are its numerous exhibits, including a diverse collection of flora and fauna species. Many of the reptiles and amphibians under exhibition at the museum have been collected from Nyanza provinces.
Although most of the museum’s collections hail from within the Nyanza region, interestingly, some of the exhibitions are from neighboring regions such as Rift Valley and Western region. The Nyanza region is occupied primarily by people of the Luo ethnic group. It is notable that the former President Barack Obama’s family is actually apart of the Luo ethnic group and his father, Barack Obama Sr., is from the Luo of the Nyanza region. Many of the exhibits at the museum are therefore understandably from the among the Luo. Thus, as already stated, the Museum has multiple exhibits specifically related to Luo history and culture. The exhibits deal with the origin of the Luo people and their settlement in Western Kenya. Another exhibit displays information on traditional plants that were known for curing certain diseases.
One of the most outstanding exhibitions deals with the structure and nature of a Luo homestead. The exhibition is known as “Ber-gi-Dala” exhibition. The exhibition is essential for documenting the history of the Luo, and preservation of their culture, and the museum takes pride in this responsibility.
The “Ber-gi-Dala” is a very important and large exhibition. In fact, the Ber-gi-Dala is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) sponsored exhibition. It is a full scale recreation of a traditional Luo homestead: the homestead of a Luo man named Jaduong Odero who was married to three wives. The exhibition consists of the houses where people live in, and the granaries that could be used for the storage of cereal crops such as maize, millet, wheat, and sorghum. Crops such as beans could also be stored in the granaries. In fact, the Ber-gi-Dala could also be part of a larger kraal. The homestead represents the house of the three wives; the house of the eldest wife first and also her second son, gives foreign visitors unique insight into a traditional Luo home.
Aside from the “Ber-gi-Dala” exhibition, there also other notable things on display, including animals such as reptiles and amphibians that have been predominantly collected in Nyanza and neighboring regions. There are various exhibitions for visitors to explore such as traditional clothing and adornment, basketry, fishing gear, agricultural tools, hunting weaponry, animal dioramas (a lion, De Brazza monkey, and the largest Nile perch).
Another notable feature is a 300-year-old tortoise imported to Kenya from Seychelles in 1930. Along with several other tortoises exhibited in the museum, this particular tortoise survives through regularly being fed cabbages and water. Both sources of nutrition are available to the tortoises at all times and they all have extremely long life spans (the reptilians are actually known for having one of the longest life spans of any animals).
Three new exhibition buildings have recently been built on the museum grounds. One of the buildings serves as an educational exhibition facility while the other two are mainly gallery centered. Inside the museum, the first pavilion contains numerous aquaria with a wide variety of fish from Lake Victoria along with explanatory posters giving information on specific fish species that are on display.
The second exhibition building contains terrarium with a variety of snakes such as mambas, spitting cobra, and puff adders. Additional exhibits include a snake pit, crocodile container, jewelry, farm tools, and Trust for African Rock Art or “TARA”. However, the rock art exhibition was moved to a separate museum for protection after it was vandalized by graffiti in its original location.
As mentioned earlier, the museum also runs and manages sites and monuments in other parts of the region. One of the most important duties of the museum is managing the Tom Mboya Mausoleum on Rusinga Island. The Mausoleum was built in remembrance of Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya, popularly known as Tom Mboya. It chronicles and life and achievements of Tom Mboya. The mausoleum lists information about Tom Mboya’s family and Luo history (because Mboya was of Luo descent). Under the National Museums of Kenya, Mboya’s mausoleum is able to receive proper maintenance and preservation.
But Tom Mboya Mausoleum is but one of several significant sites and monuments that are most memorable, stunning, and notable and that are under the management of the Kisumu Museum. Regardless of one’s main interests, there are therefore plenty of amazing exhibitions and displays that can dazzle the eyes and ears of any first time visitors to the museum or to any of the sites affiliated to it.
There are also many notable research activities becoming prominent at the museum in recent years. There are research activities dealing with diverse activities including multinational investigations on the limnology of Lake Victoria. These investigations are conducted in conjunction with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) at Mbita, in the region.
The Kisumu Museum is therefore notable for helping to display, preserve, and disseminate information about Kenyan and Luo history. It does this through its many exhibits, including the Ber-gi-Dala exhibition. The preservation of history is important as history helps shape the identity of peoples and nations, as well as providing the opportunity for people to learn about the past. The Kisumu Museum should be of interest to Kenyans, who want to learn about their history, as well people across the globe. The Kisumu Museum plays an important role in Kisumu, providing people with information about their history and helping to preserve their identity.
Therefore, next time you are in Kisumu, do not forget to pay a visit to the Kisumu Museum.
“Kisumu Museum | Macleki,” Macleki, September 16, 2018, https://macleki.org/stories/kisumu-museum-abstract-and-extended-reading-list/.