Room 25
Africa
Visiting the gallery
Opening times
Daily: 10.00–17.00
See full opening hours
Advance booking advised
Gallery audio guides
Listen on the Audio app, available on the App Store and Google Play.
The Africa Galleries reveal the extraordinary cultural, artistic and historical diversity and complexity of the continent represented by the collections.
The galleries present varied material and artistic traditions, including forged metalwork, textiles, pottery-making, masquerade and sculpture. Cross-cutting the displays, the galleries approach a range of wider themes, including trade, identity, gender, power, religion and transformation.
The inclusion of contemporary art throughout the galleries highlights the continuing vibrancy and relevance of art in and about Africa, both by artists living on the continent and those of African heritage working outside it. Among the contemporary art works represented there is a particular focus on artworks inspired or informed by earlier creative traditions.
Take a virtual tour
Take a virtual walk around the Africa galleries and see the moving Throne of Weapons, made from decommissioned firearms from Mozambique's 17-year civil war.
Gallery facts
Bronze-casting dates back to at least the 9–10th centuries in West Africa and casting in copper alloy remains a vibrant industry today. The collections from the Nigerian sites of Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, and Benin represent some of the most important early West African bronze-casting traditions and highlight the technical knowledge of metalworkers who used the lost-wax casting technique to create objects of great power and virtuosity.
For at least 2,000 years, different types of looms, weaving technologies and raw materials have been used to create regionally distinctive cloths in African societies. Textiles communicate key information about communities and individuals through their designs, use and materials. They can be used to document significant historical events and may also chart the movements and migrations of people, markets and trading patterns.
Africa is home to some of the oldest pottery making traditions in the world, including pottery found in excavations in West Africa (Mali) dating to at least 9,500 BC. Pottery traditions are found across the continent and include not only functional objects but also items of ritual or religious importance. Today, pottery-making continues to be an important means of artistic expression.
Gallery facts
Masquerade is both an art of performance and transformation in Africa. Often, masquerades maintain and express the secret knowledge of local communities. They are danced at key moments, such as during initiation, at funerals, and to mark the agricultural calendar. Masquerade performance continues to be a predominantly male activity, although the characters may be female. Masquerade incorporates dancing, music and the participation of spectators.
The identity of many of the historic artists whose works are seen within the Africa galleries is often unknown. Among the historic artists represented within the galleries whose identity we do know is the celebrated Yoruba carver, Olowe of Ise. A pair of monumental carved doors by Olowe of Ise on display in the galleries previously featured within the 1924 Nigerian Pavilion at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, London.
Every department in the Museum includes African objects in its collections. A notable example of an African object displayed elsewhere within the Museum is 'the Akan Drum', currently on display in Room 26, the North American gallery and bequeathed by the Museum's founder, Sir Hans Sloane. Although the drum was acquired by Sloane in Virginia, USA, it had been made in Africa, almost certainly travelling to the Americas on a ship linked to the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Highlights
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![Brass head wearing a crown.]()
Brass head of an Ooni (king) of Ife
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![Ivory cellar with four European figures.]()
Salt-cellar (in three parts) made of ivory
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![Ebony chair with stringing design.]()
Chair of Power
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![Large orange tent-hanging with shapes and human and animal figures illustrated on it.]()
Appliqué tent-cloth, Cairo, 1928 (before). Appliqué cotton tent panel (khiyamiya)
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![A mask in three parts, straw like bottom, face and hair pieces.]()
Mask (kifwebe)
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![3.5m high tree made from weapons in the Africa gallery.]()
Tree of life
Accessibility
- Some objects in this collection feature on the British Sign Language multimedia guide. This resource is temporarily unavailable. You can access a selection of BSL films on your own device.
- Some objects in this collection feature on the audio description guide, available on Soundcloud.
- Seating is available.
- Step-free access.
- View sensory map.
Visit Accessibility at the Museum for more information.
