Swiss palaeontologist Jacques Ayer has been appointed by the government of Benin as managing director of four new public museums that will showcase Beninese art, culture and history. Jacques Ayer, a palaeontologist from canton Fribourg, couldn’t have been more surprised by his appointment as managing director of the Réunion des Musées publics (RMP, a consortium of public museums) in Benin, West Africa. This monumental project involves four museums currently under construction in four cities: the Musée international de la Mémoire de l’Esclavage (international museum of the memory of slavery) in Ouidah, dedicated to the history of the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries; the Musée des Rois et des Amazones du Dahomey (museum of kings and Amazons of Dahomey) in Abomey, which will restore the city’s royal palaces; the Musée international du Vodun (international Vodun museum) in Porto-Novo, which will focus on Benin’s religious heritage and Africa’s Vodun communities; and the ...
