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(Minister Abimbola gave the top of the work last Friday)
By 2024, a unique jewel in the world will see the light of day in Porto-Novo. The International Vodun Museum, a flagship project of the Government’s Action Program (PAG) for the tourism, culture and arts sector, is taking shape in the capital city. It will reinforce the attractiveness and competitiveness of the Benin destination.
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Babalola Jean Michel Abimbola, accompanied by executives from his cabinet, the Mayor of the city of Porto-Novo and the Director General of the National Agency for the Promotion of Heritage and Development of tourism (ANPT) gave the top of the construction works of this thematic museum, on Friday November 18, 2022 in Porto-Novo. This was thanks to a discussion session with media professionals as a prelude to the official handover of the site to the company. Opportunity for Minister Abimbola to give details on this major project extended to the entire perimeter of the International House of Culture, the Da Silva Museum of Arts and Culture, the Ouémé-Plateau Regional Directorate of Customs and the legacy of the Hazounmè family. The construction of the International Vodun Museum (MIV) in Porto-Novo and the rehabilitation of the Honmè Palace and the Alexandre Sènou Adandé Ethnographic Museum constitute a set of projects structuring the museum and tourist offer from which the city of Porto-Novo benefits.
Through this project, the Government of President Patrice Talon mainly plans to offer the world a museum encyclopedia of religions that gives visitors the intellectual and visual means for a better understanding of Vodun. Specifically, he adds, it will be a matter of making Vodun accessible to national and international audiences, this distinctive heritage of Beninese, a spirituality in its own right within the concert of religions and other forms of spirituality that have governed the history of creation ; to deconstruct the pejorative, negative stereotypes disseminated on Vodun; to promote popular and family tourism around the culture of Vodun; to promote the universality of Vodun and the arts inspired by its myths and legends and to motivate and support scientific research. And to achieve this, the Government has already acquired 86 works related to Vodun from a private collector and inventories are underway throughout the national territory, in order to receive Vodun collections from other private owners. On the characteristics of the MIV, the Director General of the ANPT, Edmond Toli will specify that it is made up of a large reception building, an auditorium for 150 people, a temporary exhibition hall equipped with independent access, and four permanent exhibition halls, with a logistics area, technical rooms and offices.
The sense of patriotism of the PAPs…
While recalling the will of the Government to give from Porto-Novo a strong signal to the world on the mechanics of religions and our status as the cradle of Vodun, the Minister Jean Michel Abimbola praised the sense of patriotism and the civic commitment of the Dean Karim Urbain Da Silva, owner of the da SILVA Museum of Arts and Culture and other people affected by the project and who have been compensated by the Executive in accordance with the texts of the Republic.
PFcom/Mtca