Not all discovery was innocent 🦍 Some of it came at a cost.
In 1902, Friedrich Robert von Beringe shot two mountain gorillas in the Virunga Mountains, bringing back the skin of one of those gorillas as proof of his encounter. At the time, knowledge was often gathered through harm, extraction, and control.
What did it mean to “discover” something that already existed, lived, and belonged?
This moment sits at the intersection of science, violence, and legacy.
Join us as we unpack this story and the systems behind it in our upcoming experience 👀
#milele #milelemuseum #virtualmuseum #gorilla #colonialism
Ever wondered what African history feels like when it’s told by us? 🌍
Step into the Milele Museum Virtual Experience and travel across powerful, living histories shaped by African voices.
👑 Explore Meroitic Kush, the Land of the Black Pharaohs in Sudan, developed in collaboration with creative strategist Hadia Eltom. @hadiaeltom
🌿 Journey through Kenya with the Agĩkũyũ and Luo in collaboration with Urban Gurus. @urban_guruz
⛰️ Walk the thousand hills of Rwanda, home of amata n’ubuki, curated by our founders Canda @canda.n.b and Melissa Kurkut. @meliibees
🗿 Enter the ancient Kingdom of Benin, developed in collaboration with Looty. @looty.art
This experience exists because of collective passion and a belief that our stories deserve to be documented and experienced on our own terms.
🎧📱💻 The experience is completely free and accessible via milelemuseum.com through the link in our bio.
Available on PCs or through VR.
Tag us when you visit and share your thoughts, we would love to hear what resonated with you.
Video by Xolelwa Malinga @xos.art
#milelemuseum #museum #artifacts #restitution #ambassador
2025 HIGHLIGHT: @milelemuseum worked with @savvycontemporary and local partners across Rwanda to document indigenous plants and the knowledge around them. Elders, children, artists, and students came together to share what they know and to learn new ways of preserving it, from storytelling to 3D scanning and sound mapping.
This short film follows the process, the people, and the questions behind OR4A.
What does it mean to archive living knowledge, and who gets to do it?
Watch the film.
Special thanks to our project leads:
@rechomusinguzi
Gilbert Mutaganzwa
@mugabekaziiii
Numwari Lilia
@pamizer2@darcy_2.0__@romeon_mugisha
#LivingArchives #AfricanFutures #IndigenousKnowledge #DigitalHeritage #MileleMuseum
#naturalhistory #plantsplantsplants
What a beautiful opening!✨
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Not The Season at @jameelartscentre yesterday. It was incredibly special seeing so many people engage with Milele Museum’s display and take time to experience the stories and artifacts within the space 🤍
Moments like these remind us how powerful it is to share African histories, cultures, memories, and storytelling across different spaces and communities 🌍
For those still in Dubai, the exhibition remains open until June 8 — we’d love for you to come experience it for yourself ✨
And for those unable to attend in person, the Milele Museum experience remains free and accessible online through our website — milelemuseum.com (Link in bio)
We’re also always excited to hear stories from different cultures and communities. If you have stories, memories, traditions, or histories you’d love to share, feel free to get in contact with us — who knows, your story may one day become part of a future Milele Museum experience 💙
#milele #milelemuseum #jameel #jameelartcentre #museum
Before it was an exhibition, it was an archive.
Before it was seen, it was carried through fragments.
These artifacts hold traces of memory, culture, and imagined worlds waiting to be encountered again.
Now arriving at Jameel Arts Centre.
Not the Season.
May 16 – June 8, 2026.
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#milele #milelemuseum #jameel #jameelartscentre #virtualmuseum
We’re honoured to announce that Milele Museum will be part of Not the Season, a takeover exhibition organised by the Jameel Youth Assembly at Jameel Arts Centre @jameelartscentre from May 16 – June 8, 2026.
Using the spring as both object and metaphor, the exhibition explores tension, elasticity, movement, and the stretching of physical and conceptual boundaries. Through different terrains — tangible and intangible — Not the Season asks: how far can a spring extend before it transforms?
As a virtual museum experience rooted in storytelling, preservation, and digital exploration, we’re excited to contribute to this wider conversation on memory, space, and possibility.
#milelemuseum #jameel #jameelartcenter #virtualmuseum #museum
Episode 24! I’m talking to @bestjamilahever about the amazing @milelemuseum . It’s a virtual museum that transports participants to different African cities. Follow their page and listen into the full conservation!
Link to the full episode is linked in the bio.
#museum #virtual #technology #art #africa africa
These stone birds are more than symbols 🐦
They are ancient soapstone sculptures from Great Zimbabwe, representing power, spirituality, and national identity.
Taken during colonial rule and scattered across borders, they spent over a century away from home.
Now, after 137 years, the final Zimbabwe Bird has been returned restoring a piece of history that was long displaced.
A symbol once removed, now reclaimed.
#zimbabwe #artifacts #restitution #milelemuseum #milele
Some museums are “fun.”
But fun for who — and at whose expense?
This video hits a nerve. Because behind so many African artifacts on display globally is a history we can’t ignore, and shouldn’t soften.
So here’s the question:
What does it mean to engage African heritage ethically today?
Full credit: @mariamtheugandan
#decolonize #museum #virtualmuseum #milele #milelemuseum
Tracing Aquatic Ecologies in the Okavango Delta – An insight into the CollabFund project Digital Archive Footprints by Atang L.S. Arnold
💬 “Water remains the central thread throughout my research. In the context of the Okavango Delta, water is not only a resource but the lifeline of the entire ecosystem—shaping biodiversity, sustaining plant and animal life, and determining patterns of survival and adaptation. It is a continuous conversation within my work, informing both the ecological and cultural dimensions of the study.”
Atang L.S. Arnold takes us into the early stages of her research, focusing on water systems, aquatic plants, and ecosystem change in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.
💬 “So far, I have had the opportunity to review collections shared by our collaborators. Through this process, I observed that Botswana has limited archival material within German institutions. However, the few records I have accessed have been valuable in helping me narrow and define the scope of my research.”
🔗 Read the full article: themuseumslab.org/stories/tracing-aquatic-ecologies
🔗 Get an overview of the project: themuseumslab.org/digital-archive
Project team:
→ Alumni: Melissa Kurkut @meliibees · Billy Fowo @billyfowo · Atang L.S. Arnold @sharon_atang
→ Cooperation Partner: Dr Karolin Heinle
→ Involved Museums: SAVVY Contemporary / SAVVY Kwata @savvycontemporary · Milele Museum @milelemuseum · The Space Botswana @thespacebotswana · Museum für Naturkunde Berlin @mfnberlin
Digital Archive Footprints is one of the selected projects of the initiative by #TheMuseumsLab CollabFund, which is funded by @kulturstiftungdesbundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).
#CollabFund #kulturstiftungdesbundes
A new documentary, A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough, is now streaming on @netflix . 🎬🦍
Sir David returns to the story of the iconic Pablo Group, nearly 50 years after his first encounter with the silverbacks of the Rwandan mountains.
With rare and unprecedented access, the film captures gorilla behaviour that has never been filmed before, offering an intimate look into one of the world’s most remarkable species.
At Milele Museum, we’re glad to see continued global attention and care directed toward conservation and the protection of wildlife. 🌍💚
Artwork by: @xos.art
#milele #milelemuseum #museum #rwanda #gorilla
France passed a new law on April 13, 2026, aimed at simplifying the return of colonial-era artworks and artifacts. ⚖️📜
The move reflects a broader shift across Europe toward restitution, though decisions around what is returned remain closely tied to political and institutional frameworks. 🏛️
#milele #milelemuseum #Restitution #CulturalHeritage #ColonialHistory
