MUSEUM

Established in 1992, it is housed in the former palace of the sultan; a one-storey earthen building, it is a fine example of typical Kotoko architecture. The exterior is decorated with earthen ribs and spikes. After opening the lock and pushing open the small wooden door, you enter the palace's main hall, which houses a jumble of older and younger Sao and Kotoko pottery, including coffee pots, figurines and Sao terracotta seats. The interior walls are decorated with large silhouettes in ochre and kaolin, painted every year by the women after the rainy season, which washes the walls. The two side rooms once served as women's bedrooms and granaries, where jars full of grain, peas and dried fish were stored. You can still see these large jars, as well as some of the fishing implements (pots, harpoon, remnants of a papyrus pirogue...) used by the ancients. Your guide will also point out some utensils that would have belonged to the famous sao ancestors: huge jars and canaries, which served as bowls for the men, capable of lifting these hundreds of kilos with just one hand. " They were giants! " says the guard in a mysterious voice. You climb up to the first floor via a narrow outside staircase with uneven earthen steps, eroded by rain and visitors. The second floor was once a man's domain. From the central terrace, you can see the surrounding area, as well as the brazier where the potter's jars were cooked. The room on the left was the living room where the head of the family received his guests. The walls are lined with photographs and panels explaining the Kotoko culture and other sites in Chad. Portraits of past and present sultans take pride of place alongside plans or images of their city. The room on the right served as a bedroom. The other rooms are packed with interesting objects: hand-embroidered dresses(charbane) dating from the 19th^century and worn by the kotoko princesses, the sultan's boubou, also dating from the ^19th century, terracotta gargoulettes, a ewer(sakane) used for ablutions, pipe stoves, iron handcuffs and stones used for stoning, a command staff used by sultans and cadis. Your guide will end the tour with a visit to the school's library, where you'll be asked to sign the visitors' book. Don't forget to take a look at the classrooms of the small school adjacent to the palace.