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Babungo: memory, arts and techniques The museum presents a sample of major and significant objects from the rich cultural and artistic heritage of Babungo, which was formerly the most important iron-work centre in Cameroon. The treasure of the talented sculptor-kings of Babungo with thousands of pieces still remains the most impressive of the Grassland. The art objects of Babungo certainly express all the aspects of social life and the artistic heritage includes works belonging to different collections spread across the kingdom, but close to three-quarters of the important pieces were kept in the royal residence. Throughout history, the objects and noble materials were strictly controlled by the king. It is also the royal workshops that produced the finest pieces. Moreover, the art of Babungo is doubly royal : on the one hand it is made to reinforce the prestige of the fon, royalty and the kingdom ; and on the other it is royal like everything that is made or emerges from the very strength of the fon, even by delegation. This is particularly so for the major works. Here, sculptor-kings and artists have used a plastic language that is carefully coded in multiple motifs, allowing them to express ideas, beliefs, mythical scenes and historic events always surrounded by legend. Beyond the beauty of the forms, we find all the essential concerns of man in the majority of the plastic productions: the struggle for survival, the fascination and fear of death, the aspiration for happiness and love, the thirst for power, the strength of friendship, the need to preserve their ancestral heritage, fear of the future etc. The permanent exhibition, entitled “Babungo, memory, arts and techniques”, presents objects grouped together in for themes:
The museum proposes an itinerary of the collective memory: it is an invitation to visit this kingdom, its artistic and cultural wealth and the places of its history, myth and legend. |
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