During the genocide in 1994, over a million people were murdered. Over 250,000 perished on the streets and in the houses, churches and hospitals of Kigali alone. After the genocide, the Kigali City Council decided to dedicate a site for the burial of its people in a single place. Many mass graves were exhumed from around the city and the remains entered at the Kigali Memorial Centre in Gasabo district. This is now their final resting place. The museum is a poignant symbol of the devastation that the genocide brought to families across the city and the country as a whole.
The Kigali Genocide Museum, like many other genocide museums in the country, is a dignified and extremely well presented memorial to the darkest chapter in Rwandan history, honouring the dead but also looking in the future. While some in the travel industry are ambivalent about the spread of genocide tourism; others think that genocide tourism may exploit the local population while enriching few tour operators.
Although, genocide museums are not developed and promoted for tourism, an increasing number of tourists are travelling to the genocide museums around the country. Travelers pay their respects to victims of genocide at popular memorials and cemeteries. Brooks Newman, a member of Britain’s Conservative Party in his testimony, said that:
“What is unique about this memorial centre is the way the bodies of the slaughtered men and women are preserved in the very state they were left in when they were butchered. Limps hacked off and babies’ skulls crushed or even decapitated”.
In recent years the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum has welcomed a string of world leaders, coming to remember the tragedy of Rwanda’s genocide and pay their respects at the mass graves within the site where 250, 000 of those murdered lie buried. These leaders include: former US President George W. Bush, German President Horst Kohler, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, French Foreign Secretary Bernard Kouchener, Belgian Minister for International Development Charles Michel, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair are just the most recent.
As part of the 2007 genocide commemoration, a Forest of Memory was launched in honour of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans killed during the genocide. The Kigali city authorities are continuing to offer support in the expansion of the museum to include a documentation and education centre which will offer education programmes to create better understanding about genocide, within local and international communities, and to promote unity, peace, tolerance and reconciliation.
In her commitment to support the development of the museum, the Mayor of Kigali city, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, was quoted saying that:
“The memorial is one of, not just Rwanda’s, but Africa’s top historical tourist attractions and no one who comes here can fail to be moved by the story that is told. The tragedy that happened here in 1994 must never be allowed to happen again anywhere. It is through the ongoing evolution of the center into an international research and education centre that we Rwandans can best play our part in ensuring genocide never happens again in Africa or anywhere else”.
DID YOU KNOW!!
Kigali Genocide Museum
During the genocide in 1994, over a million people were murdered. Over 250,000 perished on the streets and in the houses, churches and hospitals of Kigali alone. After the genocide, the Kigali City Council decided to dedicate a site for the burial of its people in a single place. Many mass graves were exhumed from around the city and the remains entered at the Kigali Memorial Centre in Gasabo district. This is now their final resting place. The museum is a poignant symbol of the devastation that the genocide brought to families across the city and the country as a whole.
The Kigali Genocide Museum, like many other genocide museums in the country, is a dignified and extremely well presented memorial to the darkest chapter in Rwandan history, honouring the dead but also looking in the future. While some in the travel industry are ambivalent about the spread of genocide tourism; others think that genocide tourism may exploit the local population while enriching few tour operators.
Although, genocide museums are not developed and promoted for tourism, an increasing number of tourists are travelling to the genocide museums around the country. Travelers pay their respects to victims of genocide at popular memorials and cemeteries. Brooks Newman, a member of Britain’s Conservative Party in his testimony, said that:
“What is unique about this memorial centre is the way the bodies of the slaughtered men and women are preserved in the very state they were left in when they were butchered. Limps hacked off and babies’ skulls crushed or even decapitated”.
In recent years the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum has welcomed a string of world leaders, coming to remember the tragedy of Rwanda’s genocide and pay their respects at the mass graves within the site where 250, 000 of those murdered lie buried. These leaders include: former US President George W. Bush, German President Horst Kohler, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, French Foreign Secretary Bernard Kouchener, Belgian Minister for International Development Charles Michel, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair are just the most recent.
As part of the 2007 genocide commemoration, a Forest of Memory was launched in honour of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans killed during the genocide. The Kigali city authorities are continuing to offer support in the expansion of the museum to include a documentation and education centre which will offer education programmes to create better understanding about genocide, within local and international communities, and to promote unity, peace, tolerance and reconciliation.
In her commitment to support the development of the museum, the Mayor of Kigali city, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, was quoted saying that:
“The memorial is one of, not just Rwanda’s, but Africa’s top historical tourist attractions and no one who comes here can fail to be moved by the story that is told. The tragedy that happened here in 1994 must never be allowed to happen again anywhere. It is through the ongoing evolution of the center into an international research and education centre that we Rwandans can best play our part in ensuring genocide never happens again in Africa or anywhere else”.
During the genocide in 1994, over a million people were murdered. Over 250,000 perished on the streets and in the houses, churches and hospitals of Kigali alone. After the genocide, the Kigali City Council decided to dedicate a site for the burial of its people in a single place. Many mass graves were exhumed from around the city and the remains entered at the Kigali Memorial Centre in Gasabo district. This is now their final resting place. The museum is a poignant symbol of the devastation that the genocide brought to families across the city and the country as a whole.
The Kigali Genocide Museum, like many other genocide museums in the country, is a dignified and extremely well presented memorial to the darkest chapter in Rwandan history, honouring the dead but also looking in the future. While some in the travel industry are ambivalent about the spread of genocide tourism; others think that genocide tourism may exploit the local population while enriching few tour operators.
Although, genocide museums are not developed and promoted for tourism, an increasing number of tourists are travelling to the genocide museums around the country. Travelers pay their respects to victims of genocide at popular memorials and cemeteries. Brooks Newman, a member of Britain’s Conservative Party in his testimony, said that:
“What is unique about this memorial centre is the way the bodies of the slaughtered men and women are preserved in the very state they were left in when they were butchered. Limps hacked off and babies’ skulls crushed or even decapitated”.
In recent years the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum has welcomed a string of world leaders, coming to remember the tragedy of Rwanda’s genocide and pay their respects at the mass graves within the site where 250, 000 of those murdered lie buried. These leaders include: former US President George W. Bush, German President Horst Kohler, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, French Foreign Secretary Bernard Kouchener, Belgian Minister for International Development Charles Michel, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair are just the most recent.
As part of the 2007 genocide commemoration, a Forest of Memory was launched in honour of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans killed during the genocide. The Kigali city authorities are continuing to offer support in the expansion of the museum to include a documentation and education centre which will offer education programmes to create better understanding about genocide, within local and international communities, and to promote unity, peace, tolerance and reconciliation.
In her commitment to support the development of the museum, the Mayor of Kigali city, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, was quoted saying that:
“The memorial is one of, not just Rwanda’s, but Africa’s top historical tourist attractions and no one who comes here can fail to be moved by the story that is told. The tragedy that happened here in 1994 must never be allowed to happen again anywhere. It is through the ongoing evolution of the center into an international research and education centre that we Rwandans can best play our part in ensuring genocide never happens again in Africa or anywhere else”.
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