Freetown Historic Monuments

2008 World Monuments Watch

The 15 historic monuments in and around Freetown, Sierra Leone, represent almost the entirety of the nation's preserved cultural assets. One of the most significant of these sites is Fourah Bay College, founded in 1827 as the first higher-education institution in West Africa. The Old Fourah Bay College building was included on the 2006 Watch List. Other important monuments of Freetown include Bunce Island Fort, one of the most important sites related to slavery in all of West Africa, and the National Museum building, which is located in a historic structure in the heart of Freetown, and contains objects from Sierra Leone's traditional cultures, as well as items from the colonial period. As a result of the country's civil war and the depressed state of its economy, all of Sierra Leone's monuments are in poor condition. The conservation and future development of these sites is integral to the long-term survival of Sierra Leone's cultural memory.