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The Chad National Museum (Musée National N'Djamena) is the national museum of Chad. It is located in the capital city of N'Djamena at near Kempinski Hotel N'Djamena, with a mailing address of BP 638, Fort Archambault. The museum was established on October 6, 1962 in temporary quarters under the name of Chad National Museum, Fort-Lamy, reflecting the earlier, colonial name of Chad's capital. In 1964, it moved to the former town hall, near the Place de l'Independence. The museum, also known as Musée National N'Djamena, is a remarkable museum to learn about the historical journey of Chad. You will find some interesting artifacts within the museum as well as exhibitions of various items of Chadian history. All captions are in French but you can easily identify what they represent even if you don’t have a guide. Be sure to go upstairs where you’ll find the skull of the Toumai Man, widely regarded by the Chadians as the world’s earliest human ancestor. The Chad National Centre for Human Sciences at Fort-Lamy, former Chadian capital, in 1962 made it possible to coordinate and develop research throughout the Republic of Chad and to assemble national scientific collections of paleontological objects, archaeological material, and ethnographical objects in common use and archival documents. On October 6, 1962, the Chad National museum was established by the government for the purpose of preserving the documents and sites which formed part of the Chad cultural heritage, assembling the scattered collections, facilitating research by specialists and instructing the general public. The new establishment was housed, in a limited amount of space comprising five small rooms into which the institute's offices also had to be fitted.

Despite the exiguity of the premises, it proved possible to exhibit the most outstanding archaeological and "ethnographical" objects, the rest being deposited in the storerooms. Numerous Chad nationals and also foreigners visited the new establishment of their own accord, although no campaign was launched, and at the same time the museum was enriched by new collections assembled by research workers or donated by private persons. In November of 1964 with the assignment of the entire premises of the former Town Hall of Fort-Lamy, Mr. Chapelle, the assistant director of the institute and curator of the museum was able, in the space of a few weeks and with very limited material resources to organize a rational presentation of the collections. This building is surrounded by a low wall and a row of trees, it is one of the oldest buildings in Fort Lamy; it is located in the Place of Independence next to the government offices and near the most populous districts of the town, where the residential area abuts on the main business thoroughfares.

The charm of this old-fashioned building, with its white-painted bricks and unpretentious arcades supported by short square pillars, does not alter the fact that these premises though suitable for the regular performance of administrative duties and the harmonious organization of municipal ceremonies, were not adapted to the requirements and ambitions of active museography.

The very limited resources at the curator's disposal at the time of the installation precluded the purchase of showcases. By ingenuity, care and patience, however, and by following a strictly scientific procedure, he was able to present the collections in a rational manner. The objects are displayed on simple materials-sheets of plywood, dark fabrics and brightly colored mats-which throw them into relief, or surrounded by objects which evoke their usual setting, for example, tools and implements used by nomads are exhibited on the same wicker furnishings as are to be found in the nomads’ tents. The archaeological exhibits, on the other hand, stand out against a backing of more specifically museographical materials, or are placed in plastic cases to protect them from over-inquisitive fingers.

Despite these difficulties and thanks to the ingenuity of the curator, assisted by a tirelessly devoted staff, four rooms have been installed-prehistory, protohistory, archives, on the one hand, and folk arts, crafts and traditions, on the other-in liaison with the sections of the institute.

• Prehistory
• Protohistory
• Archives
• Folk Arts, crafts and tr aditions

The prehistory room, at least in 1965, included items related to pebble culture, including material from the Amgamma cliff, Stone Age implements, axes with helve-holes, nether millstones, and quartz and obsidian arrowheads. The museum at one time included a full-sized ochre reproduction of a hunting scene from the first millennium B.C. The collection also included baked bricks, some attributed to Boulala and Babalia people, items discovered at the Bouta-Kabira sanctuary including human masks, bronze objects and bone tools.

Many of its artifacts have been lost due to the instability in the country. It has a notable collection of musical instruments.

In conclusion, the Chad National Museum, in its present form, provides a complete picture of the history of Chad from the most ancient times, those of man's ancestors, to the present. It still represents only a step towards a scientifically conceived and rationally installed museum. Considering Chad's immense wealth of relics of the past and the vitality of its present crafts, bearing witness to the ingenuity and talent of peoples without machinery to assist them, Chad deserved to have a museum which through the application of the latest museographic methods can take its place among the foremost in all Africa. [

References

Category:Museums in Chad Category:National museums Category:Museums established in 1962 Category:Buildings and structures in N'Djamena