Porto-Novo Ethnographic Museum: Fon, Yoruba & Beninese Heritage
The ethnographic museum in a converted Catholic mission is the finest documentation of Benin's ethnic diversity — Fon vodoun objects, Yoruba art, and the material culture of the Bariba and Fulani
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Fon Vodoun Collection
The largest collection of Fon vodoun ritual objects in any museum — bocio protective figurines, assén iron altar staffs and cloth appliqués from the royal workshops of Abomey
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Nago-Yoruba Section
Porto-Novo's large Nago community – Yoruba people who settled here before colonization – contributed a rich collection of ifa divination objects, twin figures and orisha objects
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Bariba Kingdom Objects
The Bariba kingdom of northern Benin produced distinctive horse equipment, brass ornaments and cotton textiles — the museum's Bariba section is one of the few dedicated exhibits
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Traditional house reconstruction
A full-scale reconstruction of a traditional Fon compound is built inside the museum — the circular sleeping huts, granaries and vodou altar arranged as in a living village
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Photograph from the colonial era
Black and white photographs of Porto-Novo from the 1890s to the 1960s document the transformation from royal African capital to French colonial administrative center
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Independence Collection
Items from the 1958-1960 independence period — election materials, party flags and personal items of Dahomey's independence leaders who negotiated freedom from France