African Museum of Lyon is an echo of the colonial history of France, which lasted several centuries – from the middle of the XVIth century to the second half of the twentieth century.

Museum in Lyon was opened in 1861 on the initiative of a missionary priest by the name of Augustin plank. He was the head of the Catholic Society of African missions" and ordered all its members to bring back from trips to Africa and religious objects of applied art. During the years of missionary activity in the Museum has accumulated a lot of exhibits that were brought mostly from West Africa – Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Benin. Among them you can also see the objects illustrating the domestic and social side of life of the inhabitants of the African continent.

Currently the Museum in Lyon is recognized as Europe's oldest Museum, representing the African culture. The Museum is private and has an area of over 750 square meters. The Museum contains several thousand items, of which more than two thousand presented in the permanent exhibition. Among them are religious sculpture wood and metal, folk costumes, decorations, objects, invested with a mystical values (amulets and talismans), masks, instruments and tools – for example, a machete and scales for weighing gold dust.

At the end of XX century the Museum for several years, was closed for renovation. The new Museum was opened in January 2001. Today it also hosts exhibitions about the lives of contemporary Africans.