1st Edition
Dahomey’s Royal Architecture An Earthen Record of Construction, Subjugation, and Reclamation
Dahomey’s Royal Architecture examines the West African kingdom of Dahomey, located in present-day Republic of Benin. The book explores the Royal Palace of Dahomey’s relationship to the religious, cultural, and national identity of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Dahomey (c. 1625–1892), colonial Dahomey (1892–1960) and post-colonial Benin (1960–present).
The Royal Palace of Dahomey covers more than 108 acres and was surrounded by a wall over two miles long. When the French colonial army arrived in Abomey in 1892, the ruling king set fire to the palace to keep it from falling into enemy hands. Though much of the palace structure was subsequently left to ruin, a portion of it was restored from which the French ruled for a short period. In 1945, the colonial administration transformed part of the palace into a museum, and in 1985 the entire palace was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. This book documents the palace’s physical transformations in relation to its changing purposes and explores how the space maintained religious significance despite change. The palace’s construction, destruction, and restorations demonstrate how architecture can be manipulated and transformed according to the agendas of governments or according to the religious and cultural needs of a populace. The palace functions as a historic record by discussing aspects of documentation, revision, language, and interpretation.
Covering almost four centuries of Dahomey’s history, this book will be of interest to researchers and students of African art and architecture, religious studies, west African history, and post-colonial studies.
List of Figures
Introduction
The Palace’s Plan, Fabric, and Function
Chapter Outlines
Methodology and Acknowledgments
1 The Fish that Escaped the Net: The Establishment of Dahomey
Coding a Spiritual Foundation: The Kingdom’s Supernatural Origins
Coding Local Building Practices: From Wawe to Abomey
Coding Political Power: Founding of the Palace in Abomey
Coding Gender: Hangbe
Interpreting and Capitalizing on the Code: Agadja
Conclusion
2 Like a Jar with Many Holes: The Palace in Pre-colonial Dahomey
Instability in the Eighteenth Century
The Contributions of Tegbesu, Kpengla, and Agonglo
Reshaping the Palace and Succession: Adandozan
Architecture of Power and Reception: The Palaces of Guezo and Glele
Conclusion
3 The Foot That Stumbled But Did Not Fall: The Palace under Colonial Rule
Fire and Restoration: Behanzin and Agoli-agbo I
Setting up Government: Victor Ballot and the Palace
Agoli-agbo’s Exile and the Rise of the Chefs de Canton
The Formation of the Historic Museum of Abomey and l’Institut Français d’Afrique Noire
Interpreting Dahomey through France’s Civilizing Mission
The Museum in its Colonial Context
Conclusion
4 The Shark and the Egg: The Post-colonial Palace
Independence: Reclaiming of the Palace in the Post-colonial Moment
Modernization of Materials
The Palace’s Official Partnership with UNESCO
Cooperative Projects in the Museum
Palace Restoration outside of the Museum
The Museum as a Post-colonial Entity
Conclusion
5 Nothing Can Force the Buffalo to Take off His Tunic: Dahomey’s Palace in Contemporary Abomey
Royal Vodun
Religious Purposes of the Pre-colonial Palace: Funerary Architecture and the Grand and Annual Customs
Tohosu and Nesuwhe
Dadassi
The Gandaxi
Conclusion
6 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Lynne Ellsworth Larsen is an Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA.
