The president of Senegal Macky Sall cut Thursday, a ribbon symbolic and the unveiling of a plaque in front of the entrance to the Museum of civilization black, monumental building and the architecture is inspired in particular of the box round widespread in the southern regions of the country, seven years after work had begun under his predecessor Abdoulaye Wade.
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Macky Sall, who briguera a second term at the presidential election scheduled for February, has made a brief visit to the museum in the company of the president of comoros, Azali Assoumani, the only foreign head of State who made the trip to Dakar, and the chinese minister of Culture, whose country funded the building and fitting up to the height of more than 30 million euros.
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Several hundred guests then attended, in the precincts of the Grand National Theatre nearby, a show of song, dance, rap and slam, combining tradition and modernity, homage to the ancestors, to the great figures of civilization, of black, of Martin Luther King, Thomas Sankara, or even to the «tirailleurs senegalese».
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With a surface area of 14,000 m2, the museum can accommodate 18,000 pieces, ranging from the remains of early hominids, appeared in Africa there are many millions of years, to the artistic creations of current, according to its director, Hamady Bocoum. The institution wants to highlight «the contribution of Africa to the cultural and scientific heritage», he stressed on the eve of the inauguration. The aim of the MCN is «focused project» towards the future. «We’re not going to stay in contemplation,» stated the director. The new facility, located in the centre of the senegalese capital, «claims the status of a modern museum,» where the «you can control the temperature and humidity in each of the rooms», was also said Hamady Bocoum.
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The idea of a museum of civilization black was launched by the poet Senghor, the first president of Senegal (1960 – 1980), during the world Festival of negro arts in 1966 in Dakar. The inauguration of the MCN comes as a report released on November 23, French president Emmanuel Macron, written by two academics, the French Bénédicte Savoy and the Senegalese Felwine Sarr, and advocates to facilitate the return of works to the former colonies.
