Welcome to Lomé, the capital and largest city of Togo. It lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the southwest corner of the country, right up against the border with Ghana, which runs just a few hundred metres west of the city centre. Lomé is Togo's administrative and industrial centre, and also its chief port, shipping out coffee, cocoa, copra and palm kernels. Around it, a cross-border urban area of some 2 million people has grown up. Let us dive into its colourful markets, its colonial cathedral and the monument to its independence.
Akodessawa Fetish Market
Photo: Alexander Sarlay · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsIn the Akodessawa district of Lomé you will find a market unlike any other: the Akodessawa Fetish Market, the largest voodoo market in the world. Its stalls hold the materials of vodún religious practice, from monkey heads and skulls to dead birds, crocodiles and animal skins. Voodoo has a long tradition in Togo. In this belief, a fetish can be a god, but also a person, a plant, an animal or an object, and it is activated and strengthened through ritual.
Lomé Grand Market
Photo: Dan Sloan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsAt the heart of the city, close to the Sacred Heart Cathedral, lies the Lomé Grand Market. It fills an entire city block and is divided into three sections called Atipoji, Asigame and Assivito. Most of the vendors are women and children, and local performers often play live music among the stalls. Follow your nose to the spice sellers, who offer cinnamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg and star anise.
Independence Monument
Photo: twohundred 2010 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThis is the Independence Monument, built as a tribute to Togo's independence from France on 27 April 1960. In front stands a white bust of a woman holding up a cooking pot. Behind her rises a silhouette with arms raised, as if breaking the chains that once bound them. The sides carry inscriptions, among them, in French: People of Togo, because of your faith and sacrifice, the Togolese nation was born. Among its creators was Paul Ahyi, the Togolese artist who also designed the national flag.
Sacred Heart Cathedral
Photo: Dan Sloan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsRising before you is the Sacred Heart Cathedral, seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lomé. Remarkably, it was built in just over a year, from April 1901 to September 1902, by the German colonial authorities, and it soon became one of the iconic buildings of Togo's new capital. The first Catholic missionaries had settled in Lomé only ten years earlier, in 1892. In August 1985, Pope John Paul the Second celebrated Mass here.
Togo National Museum
Photo: twohundred 2010 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsStep into the Togo National Museum, founded in 1975 and located in the capital. Its cultural and historical exhibits include artefacts going back thousands of years. Look out for musical instruments such as the xalam, baskets decorated with shells, and calabashes once used to keep food and water. There are also clay pots, wood carvings, clothing, metalwork and tobacco pipes.
Lomakuume
