National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe

It is a requirement of the Act that the Board of Trustees meet three times every year and this takes place both at Regional level with the Trustees from that particular Region and at national level with all Trustees. National management forums are held three times a year before the Board of Trustees meet. The Board of Trustees reports to the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage.

Management

The management of the organization is undertaken by the Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director who report to the Board of Trustees. Six national managers are based at the national administrative headquarters, namely Finance, Audit, Security, Public Relations, Human Resources and Research and Development.

Services and Products

• Monuments and sites
• Site Museums
• Research and Publication

NMMZ offers library facilities at Bulawayo Natural History Museum and Zimbabwe Museum of Human Science. All museums sell NMMZ research publications.

• Consultancy
• Lodges and Camp sites

Regional Museums and Monuments

NMMZ currently administers a number of major Museums in urban locations across Zimbabwe. There are more than four and a half million objects and specimens in these major regional museums, which are of international standard. The major regional museums also serve as regional headquarters for administration purposes.

• Opening Hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm daily except for Good Friday and Christmas Day.
• A statutory admission fee is charged.
• Children under the age of five are admitted free but must be in the company of an adult.
• Educational parties and special interest groups pay nominal fees.
• Guided tours are available at all museums, sites open to the public and all community museums

Eastern Region

Includes in Nyanga area:

• Ziwa National Monuments about 120km north of Mutare, opened in 1992
• Nyahokwe Village - Historic Trees of Zimbabwe Tree #27 The Lone Juniper of Nyahokwe, [1]
• Fort Nyangwe
• Pit Structures (Nyanga National Park)
• many ancient terrace complexes
• Zvipadze Monument - Chipadze Farm Ruins, Harleigh Ruins.
  

North of Rusape:

• Diana's Vow, about 30km north or Rusape
• Pink Elephants

Mutare:

• Mutare Museum (Transport Museum)
• Kopje House - the first general hospital in Mutare, built 1897.
• Utopia House - the former home of Rys Fairbridge, surveyed Mutare, built 1897.

Elsewhere:

• Buhera cluster / Matendera Monument or ruins, near Ruti Dam. Matendera, Kagumbudzi, Muchuchu, Chiwona and Chironga.

Western Region

In and near Bulawayo:

• Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe (1981), formerly Rhodesian Museum in Bulawayo (1901), National Museum (1936). opened in present location 1964. .
• Exchange Building - Bulawayo’s colonial buildings need some TLC 20 May 2015. Urbanafrica.net. https://www.urbanafrica.net/urban-voices/bulawayos-colonial-buildings-need-some-tlc/
• Drill Hall
• National Arts Council of Zimbabwe
• Rock art, Matobo National Park, 42km south of Bulawayo. Including World's View, Cecil Rhodes' grave (Cecil Rhode's Burial Place) and Shangaani Memorial.
• Khame Ruins - 22.5km west
• Gubulawayo - first Ndebele state Capital, 22.5km away, on Old Matopo Road
• Mzilikazi's Grave - Entumbane.
• Ntabazinduna. About 5 km north of Bulawayo city.

Also - not National Museum sites:

• Amagugu International Heritage Centre

Northern Region

In Harare:

• Museum of Human Sciences - (formerly Queen Victoria Museum)
• Historic buildings - Standard Chartered Bank, Old Market Square,

Also:

• Mutoko Ruins - near Mutoko, associated with Chief Nekoreka and Budja people.
• Tsindi Ruins
• Murehwa Caves- near Murehwa
• Epworth / Chiremba Balancing Rocks - Domboramwari, on Zimbabwean paper currency,
• National Heroes Acre
• Domboshava Caves

Southern Region

• Great Zimbabwe - Great Enclosure, Hill Complex, Conical Tower, and more. The secondmost popular tourist attraction in Zimbabwe.
• Masvingo - Oldest town in Zimbabwe

Central Region

• Zimbabwe Military Museum - Gweru. Army Gallery, Aviation Gallery, Guinea Fowl Memorial Gallery, Aircraft Hanger (containing a Percival Provost T1, De Havilland Vampire F. B. 9 and Harvard Mk 24A), and Armoured Vehicle Hanger. Also displayed are Vampires, a Spitfire, a Canberra B2, and a Viscount type 748.
• Naletale Monument
• Dhlo Dhlo - (Danangombe / Danan’ombe Monument)
• Regina - (Zinjanja Monument)
• Kwekwe Mining Museum - established in 1984.
• The Paper House

Educational Programs

Heritage Educational Programmes aim at creating awareness of the cultural natural and historical heritage in all levels of society. As such, a number of programmes are in place and these are conducted both within and outside museums.

The implementation of a good number of these services is made possible by the relationship that exists between NMMZ and its partners. The partners are the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, book publishers, Non – governmental organizations and the corporate world, just to name a few of these partners.

Museum based services include specific lectures, guided tours, library and general enquiries for both organized groups and the general visiting public. Outreach programmes involve travelling exhibitions that are mounted in schools, the heritage Quiz programme for primary schools and the ‘Adopt – a – site’ meant to combat vandalism of sites in the rural areas.

Picture Gallery

References