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The John K Randle Yoruba Heritage Centre

The image shows the John K Randle Heritage Centre under construction. The city of Lagos is in the background with the Lagos Lagoon to the right of the Heritage Centre.

People employed on project and job titles

  • Lagos State Government
  • Si.Sa – Project Leaders and architects
  • RAA – Museum Design
  • Dr Will Rea – Lead Consultant Curator

Project dates

2019-2022

Project Description

The John K. Randle Centre is set to be a top tourist destination for Lagosians, Nigerians, and tourists interested in culture, history, and heritage.  The project, commissioned by Lagos State, is set in a highly accessible location in the cultural district of the Marina and Onikan region.  For almost 90 years, the John K. Randle Centre at Onikan Lagos was an important civic facility that served as a venue for swimming, recreation, and entertainment. It featured a swimming pool that was commissioned by Dr. John K. Randle, who envisaged it as a resource to teach Lagosians to swim. A pool will remain a feature of the new project.

The Centre will house multiple facilities, including a world-class exhibition of Yoruba Culture.  Curators at the John K. Randle Centre are actively engaging artists, authors, craftspeople, historians, and storytellers to bring the rich tangible and intangible Yoruba culture into the John K. Randle Centre.

The John K. Randle Centre is a new kind of museum. It adapts Western Museum practices to present new modes of storytelling inspired by ongoing (or Yoruba) traditions. It celebrates tangible and intangible culture, preserving, enhancing and promoting the cultural heritage of the Yoruba people.

The Centre is actively collecting a broad range of items that will make it far from a traditional museum. It is being assisted by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, and the National Museum Lagos in building the collections, along with private collectors. The John K. Randle Centre is playing a leading role in bringing Yoruba artefacts back from European institutions working in collaboration with the British Museum and the Pitt-Rivers Museum in the UK.