NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KANANGA

Part of the Institute of National Museums of the Congo (IMNC), the National Museum of Kananga was created in 1957 on the initiative of a Belgian, Robert Verly, under the name of "Museum of Art and Folklore of Luluabourg". Attached to the High School of Luluabourg (now the High School of Kele-Kele), and considered as a documentation tool, this museum had a double vocation: tourism and education.

Since then, the museum, like other institutions of the republic, has experienced difficult times punctuated by looting, theft and difficulties in establishing a policy of conservation of existing works of art. It is established that the various lootings of art objects perpetrated between 1960 and 1972 have greatly impoverished this museum which, according to the indications of the old directories, was full of more than 4,000 objects.

The December 2007 inventory shows 658 objects in the museum. To this figure should be added 615 other objects that have been relocated and protected on a conservatory basis since 1972 at the General Management of the Institute of National Museums of Congo in Kinshasa.

As a player in the socio-cultural and scientific environment of Kananga, the museum organizes or participates in several activities in the city (exhibitions, workshops, conferences, festivals, etc.) open to all audiences or oriented towards educational institutions. Since 2005, the museum publishes with the means of edge the semi-annual review "Kasaï Culturel", become its organ of expression and liaison.