Soul of Africa Museum
The Soul of Africa Museum (SOA), located in Essen's southern district not far from the Folkwang Museum , is a privately run museum of African art that opened in 2000 .
The focus is on the subject of voodoo , healing and ancestral cult in West Africa . The owner and curator is the ethnologist , photojournalist and filmmaker Henning Christoph. As part of the " Capital of Culture 2010 ", the museum was integrated into the cultural marketing concept of the city of Essen. Among the exhibits is a group of costumes that are worn by the Egungun , i.e. the mask dancers, in the Yoruba ancestral cult and symbolize their ancestors. Further, an original Asen the -Altar Fon to see their dead, and "Bocios" which are carved, afflicted with a magic figures.
history
In 2000, Christoph converted an old dental practice into a warehouse and viewing rooms for curators. Due to the positive feedback from visitors and the press, the museum was opened to the public. Associated with this was an educational museum concept with a special tour for school children to bring them closer to the life of foreign peoples.
exhibition
The exhibition area of 80 square meters comprises five rooms. Presents the world of the gods of the West African local religion Vodun and folk medicine, damage magic and ancestor worship. The development of the Vodun in the diaspora is also discussed. Solo exhibitions and exhibits are loaned to ethnographic exhibitions and museums around the world.
One of the exhibits is an altar of Mami Wata , a goddess who is often depicted as a mermaid and worshiped as a water spirit. The museum houses a collection of bocios, which are magic, healing and protective fetishes. ( Cio means cadaver , Bo is the power inherent in the fetish.) Bocios are made of pearls, bones, scraps of fabric, straw, leather, clay, fur, feathers and blood - tied tightly with a tight cord.
An altar depicts twins, called Venavi by the Ewe and worshiped as deities from birth. Their modern appearance is explained by the fact that the dead twins are viewed as living people who should be guided by the present. Her statues wear shoes, pants, etc. Such statues are carved as a souvenir of a deceased twin.
The museum also has a fully equipped voodoo altar with bottles at its center, filled with toy dolls and other objects. This example, which is rare in Europe, was donated by "Papa Joe", a voodoo / hoodoo priest from Raleigh (USA).
Another theme of the Soul of Africa Museum is the Atlantic slave trade . Heavy chains, cast-iron chokers, handcuffs and ankle cuffs, branding irons and whips, tools and instruments of torture used by slave traders are on display.
In another exhibition room magical objects from the Tsangui (Gabon / Congo), Oku , Chamba , Somba and Yakuba can be seen. Among them are martial-looking gorilla skull attachments of the Gorilla Bund , a powerful secret society. This union, whose members acted as law enforcement officers and moral guards for several years, was last described by the ethnologist Günther Tessmann during his Pangwe expedition (1904–1909).
Twin altar
Slave bondage
Egungun costumes
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ CHANGE THROUGH CULTURE - CULTURE THROUGH CHANGE ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) page 80 on the pages of the European Capital of Culture 2010
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Coordinates: 51 ° 26 ′ 27 " N , 7 ° 0 ′ 22.2" E