Museums are known as structures whose primary function is to store historical items for the purpose of exhibition. But what do we say when the structure of a museum itself is worth exhibiting? This is the case with the Obafemi Awolowo University's museum.
Simple, yet so gorgeous. I have always been in awe of the design of the building. Looking from afar, one would think the interior of the building is below the ground because the roofing seems to be level with the ground surface.
However, that really is not the case. I have been fortunate enough to have entered the museum twice or thrice. It is simply magnificent. Unbelievably, there are two floors in the museum. Something one can never think to be possible looking from the outside. Unfortunately, today being a weekend, I am not opportune to get access to the inside of the museum.
Hence, I decided to take a few shots of the outside structure. Without a drone of a very powerful camera, it is impossible to get an image of the entire structure at a go. Using my Samsung Tablet A2017, I divided the entire structure into four main parts. All other images apart from the main parts are used to augment the main parts.
The four main parts are back left, front left, back right, and front right. The main entrance to the museum lies between the front left and the front right. The front left and right contain the most exciting features of the museum from the external point of view.
On the left-hand side is a grass lawn with a statue of a mother and her baby. The statue gives an impression of the mother throwing up the baby. The latter is hung up in the mid-air.
On the right-hand side lies ample space for parking cars, unlike on the left side. The main entrance protrudes out from the main building to separate the left-hand side from the right-hand side.
The beauty of the structure lies in the roofing. In fact, if anyone says the museum owes 90% of its external beauty to its roofing, they will not be far from the truth. This is because it is difficult to notice anything else from the outside apart from the roof.
This is not to take anything away from the interior though. I really cannot picture what the interior looks like again but this post I wrote about the items in the museum can give an indication of what the interior looks like. That was about 7 years ago.
The Museum project is supported by AG Leventis Foundation and this is what they've got to say about the structure:
This Natural History Museum fulfills a crucial cultural and environmental role for Nigeria, and indeed the West African sub-region. It is the only Natural History museum in Nigeria, and its focus on natural -as well as cultural- history, provides information key to the wider understanding of the country’s resources and environmental future. The Foundation has made a grant, over 4 years, to the University, to contribute to the completion of the building. Finally finished in 2011, its dramatic shape references a pan-African amalgam of Yoruba and Egyptian traditions. The museum’s focus on environmental education (both at the university level, and for school visits), will aid the University in developing its conservation studies, and lead to the expansion of its conservation efforts. source
What do you think about this structure? I think it is a beautiful work of art.