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Writer's pictureLagos Diaspora

Historical Places In Lagos : 1



source: afktravel.com

NEW AFRIKA SHRINE

The New Afrika Shrine is an entertainment centre located in Ikeja Lagos state. It is also the venue for the annual Felaboration Music Festival. The shrine was originally built by Fela Kuti in 1970, before it was burnt down in 1977 and rebuilt and currently managed by his eldest son Femi Kuti his eldest son as well as Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti.

The new Afrika shrine showcases photo galleries of Fela and music performances by his sons Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti thus making it a major tourist attraction.

On July 3rd, 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Shrine and pre-launched the Season of African Cultures 2020 in France.




KALAKUTA MUSEUM

Source: Saharareporters.com

 Kalakuta Republic was the name Fela Kuti gave to the communal compound that housed his family, band members, and recording studio. Located at 14 Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro,Mushin Lagos Nigeria. it had a free health clinic, and recording facility. Fela declared it independent from the state ruled by the Military Junta after he returned from the United States in 1970. The compound burned to the ground on February 18, 1977 after an assault by a thousand armed soldiers.

“Kalakuta” was a mockery of a prison cell named “Calcutta” that Fela inhabited.

Before the attack on Fela’s home, he made a record called Zombie about the Nigerian military regime. In the song, soldiers are called Zombies for obeying orders blindly.

The song was popular in Nigeria, upsetting then-Head of State General Olusegun ObasanjoThe military was unhappy with Fela’s constant criticism and said it was unseemly to have a republic within a republic. Nigerian tabloids carried lurid but unverified tales of girls lured to the compound and corrupted by Fela’s band members.



BADAGARY HERITAGE MUSEUM

BADAGARY HERITAGE MUSEUM source: commons.wikimedia.org

Badagary town played a prominent role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which explains the location of the heritage museum’s habitat is a well- preserved example od colonial architecture built in 1863, it was formerly the office of the district officer when lagos was under colonial rule.

It was established to display documents, photographs and other relics of the past. Badagry which is a coastal town lying between the city of Lagos and Benin Republic was a key port in the export of slaves to the Americas, which were mainly to Salvador, Bahia in Brazil.

As a matter of historical fact, Badagry exported no fewer than 550,000 African slaves to America during the period of the American Independence in 1787.

It was also such a big departure point for slaves headed for French Saint-Domingue, today’s Haiti, that the main god of Haiti’s official religion of Vodun is called Ogun-Badagri.

Hence the hundreds of artifacts and historical relics that chronicles more than three centuries of slave exportation through the border city.





NIGERIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM – ONIKAN

NIGERIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM source; Guardian.ng

The Nigerian National Museum is a national museum of Nigeria, located in the city of Lagos. The museum has a notable collection of Nigerian art, including pieces of statuary and carvings and archaeological and ethnographic exhibits. one Of notable pieces is a terra-cotta human head known as the Jemaa Head (c. 900 to 200 BC), part of the Nok culture. The piece is named after Jema’a, the village where it was uncovered.  It is located at Onikan, Lagos Island. The museum was founded in 1957 by the English archaeologist Kenneth Murray. It also has educated many Nigerians, Englishmen, and tourists on the history and culture of the country Nigeria.


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