Asante Traditional Buildings

The Asante Traditional Buildings are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1980 under Criterion (v). They are described as the last surviving material remains of the Asante civilization that peaked in the 18th century, and they take the form of ten traditional shrine houses, known as Abosomfie, in villages near Kumasi.

The ten shrines are at Ejisu Besease, Adarko Jachie, Abirim, Asawase, Asenemaso, Bodwease, Edwenase, Kentinkrono, Patakro and Saaman. They were built of timber, bamboo and mud plaster arranged around courtyards, and originally had thatched roofs; most now carry corrugated iron roofs. Their walls bear bold bas-relief decoration and interlacing geometric designs associated with Adinkra symbols carrying symbolic and proverbial meaning, such as the Sankofa bird. The shrines remain in use for consulting deities.

Geographically, the buildings sit in villages to the north-east of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, with nine of the ten within roughly a 35 km radius of Kumasi and Patakro lying to the south near Obuasi. Ejisu Besease, the Yaw Tano Shrine, is about 20.8 km along the Kumasi–Accra road; Adarkwa Jachie about 16 km on the Kumasi–Ejisu road; Abirem about 12.8 km on the Antoa Road; Saaman about 12.6 km north-east of Kumasi; Kentinkrono about 20.8 km on the Kumasi–Ejisu road; Asawase about 10 km south of Ejisu; and Asenemaso about 15 km from Kejetia on the Kumasi–Sunyani road.

Because the shrines are dispersed across separate villages rather than gathered in one compound, visiting involves travelling between locations rather than a single stop. Opening hours are given as 9:00am to 4:30pm. The Ghana Museums and Monuments Board manages the buildings, which were acquired between 1960 and 1970 and scheduled as National Monuments under NLC Decree 387 of 1969, with caretakers at all sites. GMMB can be reached at [email protected] or on 0303944028 / 0303944029; no site-specific phone number is published.