Below you will find all you need to know about the Kigali Genocide Memorial
Kigali Genocide Memorial
Initially set up in the early 2000s (2004) the Memorial offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. An opportunity to pay your respects to the 250 000 residents slaughtered on this hillside in Gisozi. The memorial takes the visitor on a journey not only through the Rwandan Genocide but it explores other genocides atrocities which have occurred in modern times.
Kigali Memorial Entrance Fee
Free. Visiting the Memorial is free. The aim is to share this powerful story with the aim that it should never happen again. For this reason an entry fee is a barrier to educating visitors about the horrors and what is to be learnt. Hence how remembering and reconciliation are possible.
Kigali Genocide Memorial Location
The memorial is located on a hillside in Gisozi, a area of Kigali. It was chosen because this area is the location of a mass grave of approximately 250 000 Tutsi slaughtered, butchered, tortured and murdered.
How to Get to the Kigali Genocide Memorial
- Take a Taxi
- Boda Boda (Motobike or Bicycle)
- Public Bicycle Share
- Bespoke trip with Kingfisher Journeys
Genocide Memorial Opening Times
- 9am – 5pm, 7 days a week
- Last entry 4pm
- on the last Saturday each month, opening time changes to 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm due to Umuganda.
Children’s Room at the Genocide Memorial in Kigali
Evidently all the rooms in the memorial are powerful. Perhaps the most poignant for many is the Children’s Room. Firstly you will find images of young children. Secondly, underneath each photograph you see details about their young life.
- Name
- Best friend
- Favourite Food
- The thing they loved to do
- Their personality
- How they were murdered
Nothing can prepare you for the heart breaking stories. Let them not have died in vain.
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Of course there were stories of courage. In spite of the horrors there were those who hid their neighbours, those who refused to hand over their neighbours, god father, god mother, those who offered refuge.
Firstly the whole ethos of the Memorial is about remembering, reconciliation and education.
How long will the visit take to the memorial?
Expect your visit to take approximately 2 – 3 hours. There is a lot to read, look at, short movies in each room of the exhibition. Those who choose to hire audio guides may require even longer. You may then wish to visit the Garden of Remembrance, Wall of Names and the mass graves to pay your respect. Have a quiet coffee in the coffee shop and reflect on all that you have witnessed today.
Can I take photos at the Memorial
- No. You are kindly requested not to take photographs within the exhibition.
- Outside in the Garden of Remembrance and the exterior buildings it is permitted to take photographs.
What does Kwibuka mean in English?
Kwibuka means to Remember
Can I park at the Genocide Memorial?
Yes. There is parking at the genocide memorial. Also be prepared to pass through a security check and scanning device to ensure the safety of all visitors.
A review of the Kigali Genocide Memorial
Below you will find all you need to know about the Kigali Genocide Memorial ( a review)
In our opinion you must visit this memorial. Learn about man’s inhumanity to man. You must visit to empower yourself that such things will never happen again.
Visiting the Kigali Genocide Memorial is very powerful. The memorial is well thought out and you leads the visitor on a journey. Exhibitions take you from colonial times through to modern day. The use and abuse of propaganda to turn those on one ethnicity into the enemy. How such propaganda can turn those who were once your best friends, neighbours, god fathers into someone who could commit Genocide.
The Exhibitions contain short videos with first hand accounts of Tutsis who survived. Some who were only young children in 1994. There first hand accounts will bring tears to your eyes.
Rooms within the memorial
Of course some rooms may be too difficult to remain in for long. In one room you will find human bones, skulls with bullet holes and machete wounds. In another room you will find clothing discovered in mass graves. Of course the Children’s Room is another part of the exhibition which will leave you with a heavy heart as you contemplate who poor innocent children could be ripped from their mother’s arms and murdered.
This well thought out memorial then takes you outside. Into the beautiful memorial gardens. Here the birds are singing, tropical flowers and plants sway in the breeze. It is now you can visit the mass graves of those so senselessly slaughtered. Read the names of those lost. Plan who we, you, can be a part of ensuring such things never happen again.
I personally became very upset when I read about the abuse of women. Not only murdered but mutilated in the legs to stop them from running and then raped multiple times before being killed. Hutu women were also murdered, tortured abused, for having married a Tutsi.
To sum up: you must visit this Memorial.
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