Book Now

Exploring Rwanda’s Heritage at the National Museum in Huye

For anyone looking to learn about Rwandan traditional culture and history, the National Museum of Rwanda is a must-visit. Located in Butare, 130 kilometers south of Kigali City, the National Museum of Rwanda covers 20 hectares of land, including buildings, gardens with indigenous plants, and a traditional craft training center.

Opened in 1988 as a gift from Belgium’s King Baudouin I, the museum is an excellent source of information about Rwanda’s cultural history and the region. It helps visitors understand the people, their customs, habits, and cultures, as well as their interactions and differences, especially during the time when East African kingdoms met Europeans during colonial times.

The National Museum of Rwanda is a modern facility that preserves Rwandan traditions and showcases African life and culture. It is well-documented and organized to give visitors a clear understanding of Rwanda’s history and culture.

Key Features of the Museum

Key Features of the Museum

  • Maps, photos, and historical materials.
  • Displays of art and ethnographic objects, including agriculture, hunting, fishing, basketry, pottery, textiles, wood carving, and metallurgy.
  • Gardens with indigenous vegetation.
  • A traditional craft training center.
  • An archive of testimonies on Rwanda’s history from community elders, photographs, and historical audio and video recordings.

The museum has seven spacious rooms illustrating the history of Rwanda’s people from ancient times to the present.

Visitors are welcomed at the reception desk, which has pamphlets and books for sale in English and Kinyarwanda.

A guided tour through the rooms offers detailed insights.

Room Descriptions

Room Descriptions

  • Room I: The entrance hall features space for temporary displays, a ticket counter, and shelves with handcraft items and booklets for sale.
  • Room II: Contains materials on Rwanda’s geography, geology, and terrain. It includes maps, photos, and graphics that provide a comprehensive view of Rwanda’s development and its people.
  • Room III: Displays tools and items used by Rwanda’s early inhabitants in hunting, farming, and gathering. It compares old tools with more modern ones and highlights the social importance of cattle farming.
  • Room IV: Features a variety of handicrafts and traditional household items, such as pottery, mats, baskets, leatherwork, and wooden shields. It also shows tools used in farming, beekeeping, hunting, and other activities.
  • Room V: Exhibits traditional Rwandan architecture, ancient ways of living, and social organization.
  • Room VI: Displays traditional clothing used for sporting events and social activities like dancing.
  • Room VII: Contains information on traditional culture, customs, history, kings’ chronologies, oral history, and poetry. This room provides an understanding of the origins of Rwandan culture and social behaviors.

The museum also offers refreshment areas with excellent service. The king’s palace and the smaller milk and beer huts are highly recommended and not to be missed for an authentic cultural experience.



Magical Gorilla Adventures TripAdvisor
Magical Gorilla Adventures Google Reviews
Uganda Tourism Board
Magical Gorilla Adventures TripAdvisor Travellers Choice

Why you should choose us?

We are beautiful one day and perfect the next! Book with us and book it out of here!

1

Who we are

We are a passion-drive travel agency that will make you love Africa even more than us.

Read more
2

Booking with us

We offer very flexible booking terms that you'll love. We make it easy for you to book or reschedule your trips.

Read more
3

Our promise to you

We promise you make you fall in love with Africa through our tailor-made safari holidays

Read more
4

Values & commitments

We are commited to offering you the best service as possible. Your experience & comfort always comes first.

Read more
5

Our cause

A small portion of our profits proceeds towards supporting single mothers in local communities.

Read more

How we work

To offer a more rewarding way to travel, we do stuff the right way; right from the planning process.

1
We pay attention

We will spend time and pay attention to your expectations, then propose an experience that you might like.

2
We complement

Next we will discuss our selected options, point out the best safaris for you and make awesome recommendations.

3
We hold your booking

We will tentatively hold your booking and make reservations while we talk through the safari details or make changes.

Speak to an expert to start planning your African safari holiday...

Give a call to one of our specialists or arrange a video meeting/session for awesome ideas and safari advice.

+256 787 23 0575
Eddie Safari Guide
Ronnie Safari Guide
×Chat with us