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Project conception

A description of the concept and the aims of the Living Museums in Namibia

The Living Museum

A living museum is a settlement of a specific language group build in such way as it used to be built before the European colonial influence changed the traditional culture. The participants working at the living museums act out the great variety of their original culture. The actors wear traditional clothes reconstructed for the museum and offer activities representing the equivilent past to interested guests with the main focus on the highest possible degree of authenticity.

The aims of the Living Museum

The main aim of the Living Museum is to give members of a certain language group - and especially there children - the possibilty to deal with the origins of their culture and thus understand their cultural background. This may contribute to regain of cultural identity. It may help to understand the complicated situation in modern Namibia and could finally help to find solutions for social problems.

Another aim of the Living Museum is the creation of an income for poor communities in Namibia. This can be acheived through the tourism industry in Namibia. But not only tourists, also pupils, students and every Namibian can support a Living Museum and learn interactivley about the fascinating traditions of the presented culture.

Therefore another aim of the Living Museum is to create an intercultural dialogue and support tolerance and cultural approximation. The actors of the Living Museum are not only actors, they are teachers for guests and their own children.

Cultural and intercultural linkCultural and intercultural link

Latest News

20 November 2023
During the last project tour, the idea of a traditional workshop at the Mbunza Living Museum came about. The aim of the workshop was to improve traditional craft techniques that originally played a role in the respective traditional cultures and are ...
04 October 2023
The Living Culture Foundation Namibia is organizing a traditional workshop and music festival for all Living Museums from Monday, October 30, 2023 to Friday, November 3, 2023. The workshop will take place at the Mbunza Living Museum, approximately 15...
12 April 2023
The employees and patients of the dialysis clinics in Tangermünde and Genthin handed over a donation of €4,000 to Dr. Ralf Kühn, founding member and chairman of the board of the German-Namibian association Living Culture Namibia at his farewell party...
27 January 2023
Thanks to a very generous donation of €3,600 from Ms. Ute Schmidt-Rohr, we were able to successfully complete the first part of the water infrastructure project at the Mbunza Living Museum. A pump was installed at the Samsitu campsite very close to t...
18 November 2022
 This meeting was a "follow-up" to the previous meeting in March 2022 to assess the project progress in the development of a Herero Living Museum in Otjokavare. From our side, two things were essential. Firstly: Better communication structures m...
01 October 2022
In August 2022 we paid a visit to the Mafwe at the Living Museum in the northern part of Namibia to, among other things, install a new road sign. The erection of the sign had become necessary because the Mafwe had moved two years ago and some of the ...