UNESCO sites<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Royal Palaces of Abomey (1985)<\/b>, cultural value.<\/p>\r\n
The complex covers 47 hectares <\/b>and includes the remains of the palaces of the 12 kings who succeeded on the Abomey throne from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century<\/b>. At each enthronement, it was customary for the new ruler to have his own palace and not inherit that of his predecessor. With the fall of Behanzin in the Battle of Abomey in 1892 against the French, the complex was set on fire to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Today, the two main palaces, <\/b>which were also home to the two most important rulers who made the Kingdom of Dahomey great, Ghezo and Gl\u00e9l\u00e9, <\/b>are accessible, restored and a museum. Some of the original vestments, furniture, objects and furnishings are still preserved inside. The architecture is built entirely of clay bricks, with the typical red colouring of the region, in a rectangular layout with rooms in succession and a thatched and reed roof. The fa\u00e7ade is decorated with typical coloured terracotta tiles representing symbolic elements and totem animals, linked to the origins and exploits of each king. The places of worship and mausoleums in the courtyards, on the other hand, are circular in shape.<\/p>\r\n
W-Arly-Pendjari Complex (1996, 2017)<\/b>, environmental value<\/p>\r\n
The first to be added to the Unesco list was the W <\/b>(Niger-Burkina Faso-Beni) Transfrontier Park <\/b>in 1996, for its enormous environmental value and intact eco-system, representative of the Sudan-Sahelian strip. In 2017, the Pendjari Park <\/b>in northern Benin and the Arly Park <\/b>in Burkina Faso were added to the Complex. The <\/span>huge area of 10,000 km\u00b2 is partly inhabited by local populations engaged in <\/span>agriculture and regulated subsistence hunting, and largely protected in its faunal balance and typical savannah vegetation<\/b>. Colonies of elephants, the last West African lions, cheetahs and leopards, <\/b>a multitude of species of gazelles, baboons, warthogs and numerous reptiles survive here. Most avian-faunal species are found near the reservoirs, and colonies of hippos and crocodiles dwell there.<\/p>\r\n Architecture<\/b><\/p>\r\n Beninese architecture is quite varied, depending on the many traditions, eras, areas and uses.<\/span><\/p>\r\n While in the main towns, such as Cotonou, Porto-Novo, Ouidah and Abomey, there are interesting examples of Portuguese and French<\/strong> colonial architecture, <\/b>with Afro-Brazilian influences, alongside administrative buildings and modern and contemporary monuments, typical of Soviet constructivism<\/b>, in the rural villages, traditional dwellings in clay and natural materials still predominate, still following the original forms.<\/p>\r\n The three most characteristic examples of traditional <\/b>Beninese<\/strong> architecture <\/b>are undoubtedly the wooden stilts of Ganvi\u00e9<\/b>, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, built entirely on <\/span>water; the royal palaces of Abomey, <\/b>a UNESCO world heritage site, with their rectangular or circular mausoleums and their beautiful polychrome bas-reliefs depicting the symbolism of the royal dynasties; the fortified dwellings of the betammarib\u00e9 <\/b>(the tatas), built entirely of straw and mud and scattered with animist protective fetishes, which follow very sophisticated engineering criteria, despite their simplicity, in a perfect synthesis of civil (practicality), military (defence) and religious (cult of the fetishes) architecture.<\/p>\r\n In 1996, the voodoo religion was declared the official religion of Benin, and this reawakened international interest in the identity and history of a people who had suffered three centuries of slave trade. In the city of Ouidah, <\/b>a series of<\/strong> modern monuments<\/b>, created by Beninese and international artists, have been erected to mark the symbolic focal points of the stages and routes of the slave trade. At the same time, temples and modern monuments <\/b>have been builded in an attempt to give<\/span> form and iconography to the deepest and most invisible meaning of the Voodoo religion. A sort of “<\/span>didactic” architecture and sculpture that can raise awareness and bring people closer to the Voodoo culture and the greatest forced exodus in the history of <\/span>mankind.<\/p>\r\n Traditional art<\/b><\/p>\r\n Benin is rich in traditional art and local crafts. The variety is obviously linked to the <\/span>variety of peoples and cultures.<\/p>\r\n From ritual masks to amulets, from votive statues to fetishes, from jewellery to textiles, from musical instruments to hunting weapons, from batik painting to kalebasse decoration, even the architecture of the tatas (the characteristic dwellings in the Atakora mountains) can be considered part of the sculptural art, shaped just like a sculpture.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Made of wood, clay and metal (but only those of Nigerian Yorouba origin), the sculptures are mainly votive, <\/b>linked to voodoo practice, propitiatory or good luck talismans, based on stereotypes handed down from generation to generation.<\/p>\r\n Masks <\/b>are one of the most interesting handicraft expressions and are mainly linked to animist and voodoo rituals, such as initiation ceremonies, funerals, weddings, births, and their purpose is mainly propitiatory, keeping away evil spirits, honouring ancestors and deities. The most beautiful examples are in the Gueled\u00e9 and Yoruba masks<\/b>.<\/p>\r\n Textile work <\/b>is also a typically Beninese art, dating back to the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, whose royal factories in Abomey <\/b>are still active today, making the characteristic “patchwork” tapestries. Other particularly rich examples are the Yoruba<\/strong> jewellery fabrics<\/b>, entirely covered in beads.<\/p>\r\n Terracotta and raffia work, on the other hand, are typical of the north, in the Atakora or Parakou areas: the beautiful pottery of the Betammarib\u00e9 women<\/b>, the traditional\u00a0 Taneka pipes and the baskets or bags of the Peuhl people.<\/p>\r\n Cinemas<\/b><\/p>\r\n There is no real school of cinema or photography in Benin, as there is in Burkina Faso or Mali. However, there is a festival dedicated to African cinema (Quintessence<\/b>) and there are a number of high-level directors, active since the 1970s, who have made good films on Benin’s history, including Pascal Abikanlou <\/b>and Richard de Medeiros<\/b>. Benin is the birthplace of the <\/span>now famous Hollywood actor Djimon Hounsou<\/b>.<\/p>\r\n Literature<\/b><\/p>\r\n Beninese literature (in French) was one of the first to emerge in West Africa, in 1929 with the publication of Felix Couchoro’s ‘L’Escalve’<\/b>. This earned Benin the nickname ‘<\/span>Latin Quarter <\/i>of <\/span>Africa<\/i>‘ and encouraged the country to invest particularly in education and training. During the colonial period, the greatest writer was Paul Hazoum\u00e9<\/b>. As in the<\/span> rest of West Africa, literature in Benin is inspired by the oral tradition of the griots and the historical deeds of the African people, passed down orally from generation to generation.<\/p>\r\n Music<\/b><\/p>\r\n Generally speaking, when it comes to art forms, music cannot be ignored throughout Africa.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Benin is no exception, and traditional music, linked to religious ceremonies, is so heartfelt and alive that it contaminates even contemporary commercial music.<\/p>\r\n Each ethnic group has its own sounds, the most striking of which are those accompanying the Guel\u00e9 ceremonies and those of the egugun spirits (masks representing the spirits of those ‘returned’ from the Americas to take revenge).<\/p>\r\n Percussion is the basis of Beninese music <\/b>and the most common drums are the dundun <\/i><\/b>of the Yoruba and the djemb\u00e9, <\/i><\/b>which <\/i>is ubiquitous in all African countries.<\/p>\r\n Among contemporary music, salsa <\/b>and Afro-Caribbean styles <\/b>are very fashionable in Benin, due to their obvious descent from Benin through slavery.<\/p>\r\n Internationally recognised Beninese singers include Angelique Kidjo<\/b>, originally from Ouidah. More commercial is the pleasant repertoire of Petit Miguelito <\/b>with its cheerful Afro-Cuban sounds.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":14554,"menu_order":0,"template":"","da_non_perdere":[],"la_terra_e_gli_uomini":[60],"buono_a_sapersi":[],"prima_di_partire":[],"class_list":["post-15770","info_viaggi","type-info_viaggi","status-publish","hentry","la_terra_e_gli_uomini-benin","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n