The expression “Royal Palaces of Abomey”—yes, plural—refers to a set of ten palaces built successively between the mid-1600s to the late-1800s by the kings of Dahomey. In all, they cover an area of 115 acres (47 ha) in two separate sites (the palace of King Akaba is adjacent to the one of his predecessors, but isolated, as a free-standing structure). According to Professor Bay, the area “was surrounded by a massive mud wall rising in some places to 30 feet (10 m) and describing a perimeter of nearly 2.5 miles (4 km).” [1]
Each palace is, in reality, a compound made up of various buildings—including tombs and memorial shrines—disposed around various courtyards of various dimensions. The result for the combined site is a complex labyrinth of red-earthen-buildings, narrow passageways, and yards of all sizes and shapes.
The site is particularly noteworthy because of its bas-relief decorations. This form of building adornment was introduced by King Agaja, who reigned in the early-1700s. In addition to decorating his own walls, King Agaja “honored his predecessors by commissioning ornamentation for their palaces as well. These initial… ornamentations, whether in relief or painted, were primarily decorative; it was not until the reign of King Agonglo (1789-1797), that the reliefs took on a more communicative purpose.” [2] It was this king who “transformed the purpose of the bas-reliefs from ornamental to representational and therefore communicative. Eventually… [the use of symbols] alluding to specific achievements, histories, and legends associated with each king… made [their] histories more accessible to the general public and increased the documentary status of the palace as something able to be read by those outside the royal household.” [3]
In 1985, the Royal Palaces of Abomey were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the meantime, two of them have been restored with the help of the Getty Conservation Institute: King Ghezo’s and King Glèlè’s. They now constitute the base of the Historical Museum of Abomey.
Asens
One of the highlights of this museum is its collection of royal asens. The asen (also spelled asin or assen) is a portable celebratory altar made in honor of a dead ancestor. The intention is to create a place where the spirits of the dead come alight, thus permitting communications between them and the living members of the family. Asens are nothing more than a stake (normally a round iron bar, strong enough to be pushed into the ground), with a tray on top (normally of metal and circular in shape, with decorative pendants hanging off its edge), on which a small figurative scene is depicted.
The Asen is an evolution of a practice of the Gbe-speaking peoples of Benin. According to Professor Adandé, these “populations initially offered food and drink to the dead in gourds…. After coming into contact with the Yoruba, however, these populations became acquainted with the canes of Osanyin, the god of medicinal plants and healing. These canes were made of metal and could be pushed into the ground to keep them upright.” [4] The result is the ancestral asen.
The use of asens, which appears to have begun in Benin around the mid-1800s, was initially limited to kings and princes of the royal family and other nobility members. By the early-20th century, asen usage had spread to the population in general. By then, the materials used to make them had expanded (to include empty tin cans and other types of scrap metals), as had its message. To quote Professor Bay, “the message of the royal ancestral asen of the precolonial period focuses on the visible world of state power, on the strengths of the kings and queen mothers of the dynasty. In contrast, the decorative tableaux of asen of the mid-twentieth century, roughly from the 1920s through the 1970s, speak intimately of relationships within families. They talk of close friends, of the dead, and the connection between the living and the dead.” [5]
Hospitality and Logistics
Abomey is a fairly large town, with many options as far as places to eat and sleep. On the later, probably one of my favorites is the Auberge d’Abomey. Chez Sabine can be a good alternative to the Auberge, albeit not as centrally located.
Lastly, concerning getting there, Abomey is approximately 80 miles (130 km) away by road from Cotonou—Benin’s capital city and, most likely, your point of entry into the country. There are a few buses plying this route, but they are seldom ever reliable, and quality of service is normally not particularly good. Luckily, there are a few places in Cotonou where one can rent a car! It is a rather nice road trip, through a mixture of landscapes—from heavy urban to more rural ones—but drive carefully. (If not comfortable driving in West Africa, you may want to consider hiring a car with a driver.)
Notes
[1] Bay, Edna. Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey. Charlottesville: The University of Virginia Press, 1998, p. 9.
[2] Larsen, Lynne. “The Royal Palace of Dahomey: Symbol of a Transforming Nation.” Ph.D. diss. University of Iowa, 2014, p. 37.
[3] Ibid., p. 56.
[4] Adandé, Joseph. “The Assen.” In Historical Museum of Abomey (on-line), last updated November 16, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2017 from www.epa-prema.net/abomeyGB/resources/assen.htm.
[5] Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008, p. 115.
Further Readings
- Alladaye, Jérome and Clément Vodouhe. “Circuits de Visite et Impact sur l’Environnement Socioculturel.” In Passé, Présent et Futur des Palais et Sites Royaux d' Abomey (Actes de Conférences), 117-128. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 1999.
- Monroe, J. Cameron. “In the Belly of the Dan: Space, History, and Power in Precolonial Dahomey,” Current Anthropology, 52, no. 6 (2011), 769-798.
- Piqué, Francesca and Leslie Rainer. Palace Sculptures of Abomey: History Told on Walls. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2000.
- Royal Palaces of Abomey. In World Heritage List, UNESCO (on-line), no date. Retrieved August 6, 2017 from whc.unesco.org/en/list.
- Schoffel, Serge. Vodoun Fon: Entre Art et Matière (Catalogue de l’Exposition). Brussels: Galerie Serge Schoffel, 2014.
