It is a major town for the Bamoun people and is home to a museum of
traditional arts and culture. There is also a market and a craft centre,
while Foumban Royal Palace contains a museum with information on
Ibrahim Njoya who invented a new religion and the Shumom alphabet.
Though
touristy, Foumban is one of Cameroon's major attractions and an
important centre of traditional African art. Its jewel is the Palais
Royal, seat of power for the Bamoun people. The ruler of the Bamoun is
known as the sultan, and the Bamoun can trace the lineage of their
sultan back to 1394.
The palace, completed in 1917, resembles a
medieval chateau. It houses the Sultan's Museum, which contains a
multitude of royal gowns, arms, musical instruments, statues, jewellery,
masks and colourful bead-covered thrones carved in the shapes of the
men who sat on them.
A few hundred metres south of the palace is the
Mus�e des Arts et des Traditions Bamoun. This extensive collection has
exhibits on Bamoun history and art, including cooking implements,
musical instruments, pipes, statues, masks, gongs and an ornately carved
xylophone. The road that connects the two museums is the Rue des
Artisans, home to sculptors, basket makers, weavers and embroiderers,
and one of the best places in Central Africa to buy wood carvings
