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The Living Museum of the Damara

The Living Museum of the Damara close to Twyfelfontein is the first traditional Damara project in Namibia and the only one of its kind. The possibility to experience the traditional Damara culture in this form exists nowhere else in Namibia or in the world.

Traditional dances of the DamaraTraditional dances of the Damara

The unique experience of historic Damara culture

Together with the Bushmen the Damara belong to the oldest nations in Namibia. Their original culture was a mixture of an archaic hunter-gatherer culture and herders of cattle, goats and sheep. Due to their loose social structures the Damara were not able to defend themselves against aggressors during the colonization of Namibia. This is one of the reasons why their culture has to a great extent fallen into oblivion.

The Living Museum - A place for old and youngThe Living Museum - A place for old and young

Lost culture of the Damara

Within the framework of the Living Museum of the Damara an attempt was made to reconstruct the ‚lost culture’ of the Damara. Here the visitors have the unique opportunity to get to know the fascinating traditional culture of the Damara, thus contributing to the preservation of the culture as well as to a regular income for the Damara community that built the museum.
 
Don't miss this chance of a lifetime!

Map

Damara Map

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 ...