King’s Palace Museum
King’s Palace Museum
The King’s Palace Museum in Nyanza offers a captivating look into Rwanda’s monarchical past. This reconstructed royal compound includes three traditional structures:
-
Kambere Hut, representing the residence of King Yuhi V Musinga,
-
A milk house, where virgin girls guarded sacred royal milk, and
-
A beer house, where ceremonial beer was brewed for royal gatherings.
Nearby, a modern royal home illustrates the lifestyle of King Mutara III Rudahigwa and Queen Rosalie Gicanda in the 1930s, showcasing early 20th-century Rwandan nobility.
One of the museum’s highlights is the majestic Inyambo cattle, direct descendants of the king’s herd. With long, elegant horns and decorated with regalia, these cattle were trained to perform ceremonial parades in response to traditional songs—an art still preserved today by local herders.
A short distance away, on Mwima Hill, stands the Mwima Royal Mausoleum, where King Mutara III Rudahigwa, Queen Rosalie Gicanda, and King Kigeri V Ndahindurwa, Rwanda’s last monarch, are laid to rest.
The King’s Palace Museum offers a unique cultural journey, tracing Rwandan royal history from the 15th century to the monarchy’s end in the 1960s.