Mime
A JOURNEY INTO UNIVERSAL MEMORY
A place that speaks to the whole world
Just a few minutes from Native Hotels, Ouidah is home to one of Africa’s most ambitious cultural and memorial projects: the International Museum of the Memory of Slavery (MIME).
More than a museum, it aims to be a bridge between continents, a space where memories dispersed by the slave trade come together, engage in dialogue, and resonate with the issues of our time.
Architecture steeped in history
Housed in the former Portuguese Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá, built in the 18th century, the museum is located on a site emblematic of the transatlantic slave trade. Its renovation, carried out with great care, respects the symbolic strength of the place while integrating a contemporary scenography: immersive exhibition spaces, landscaped gardens, and areas for reflection. The museum experience is designed to awaken the senses and consciousness: the stone tells a story, the light guides, and the voices of the past merge with contemporary creations.
A universal and sensitive story
The visitor's journey follows a chronological-thematic path:
The Roots: African societies before the trade.
The Tear: capture, crossing, deportation.
The Legacies: resistance, Creole cultures, rebirth of identities.
Each room is designed as an immersion: sounds, images, objects, testimonies. Visitors leave feeling they have not only learned but also felt a part of this history.
An echo with Native Hotels
Staying at Native Hotels, you are at the heart of this story. Our approach, based on valuing Afro-Brazilian heritage and offering rooted hospitality, naturally extends to a visit to MIME. Together, heritage and hospitality provide travelers with a complete experience: relaxation, nourishment, but also remembrance and understanding. We invite each of our guests to cross its doors, experience this unique moment, and make their stay in Benin a journey of responsible and human discovery.
