Nairobi National Museum
Kenya’s national museum of history, culture, nature and contemporary art.
The Nairobi National Museum is the flagship institution of the National Museums of Kenya. Its origins lie in 1910, when members of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society began assembling a collection of natural history specimens. The collection moved twice within Nairobi before the colonial government allotted land at Museum Hill in 1929. The new building was officially opened on 22 September 1930 as the Coryndon Museum, named after Sir Robert Coryndon, a former Governor of Kenya.
After Kenya gained independence in 1963, the institution was renamed the National Museum of Kenya. Members of the Leakey family played a significant role in its development: Louis Leakey served as curator from the 1940s and Richard Leakey became director in 1968. Between 2005 and 2008 the museum closed for an extensive modernisation programme, supported by European Union funding, which added new galleries, an administration block and a commercial centre. It reopened in 2008 as the Nairobi National Museum.
The museum combines natural history and cultural heritage. Permanent galleries include the Cradle of Humankind, covering early human evolution and Stone Age tools, the Story of Mammals, the History of Kenya, Cycles of Life, a numismatic exhibition on currency and banking, and an exhibition on Asian African heritage. The wider National Museums of Kenya collections, much of them housed at Museum Hill, hold millions of specimens, including fossils, insects and plant vouchers. The site also includes botanical gardens and the neighbouring Nairobi Snake Park.
Highlights
- Cradle of Humankind gallery on early human evolution in East Africa
- Skeleton of Ahmed, the celebrated elephant of Marsabit
- Original 1930 entrance of the former Coryndon Museum
- History of Kenya gallery tracing communities up to independence
- Botanical gardens and the adjoining Nairobi Snake Park
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