Bolgatanga Craft Village

Bolgatanga Craft Village is a craft market and artisan centre in Bolgatanga, the capital of Ghana's Upper East Region. According to the Tourism Resources Information Centre (TRIC), the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly built it in 2003 to promote the cultural heritage of Ghana and Africa. It is described as a craft centre, a cultural site and a market, and it sits in the Bolgatanga Municipal District.

The art centre showcases and sells woven smocks, baskets, leather work — mostly bags and sandals — local and foreign beads, figurine dolls, sculptures, ceramic bowls, local drums, and artwork from Mali, Nigeria and elsewhere. Bolgatanga is known as the crafts centre of the Upper East Region, and its surrounding suburbs are among the largest producers of leather goods, straw baskets and smocks. The well-known "Bolga baskets" are made and sold in the town.

One point worth knowing before you go: TRIC notes that artists sell their artefacts at the Bolga Market, which is open every third day. Graphic Online describes the Craft Village as "located uptown" with craft shops serving tourists, and observes that although crafts are marketed all over town, they are mostly made in Bolga's surrounding suburbs rather than on site. A visitor should therefore expect a concentration of shops and stalls rather than a working production floor.

The Upper East Regional Museum is adjacent to the craft village, which makes the two a natural combined cultural stop. The museum is situated behind the Regional Library in Bolgatanga. The craft village is also described as unique among the five regions of northern Ghana.

Practical details such as opening hours, entrance fees, stallholder numbers and accessibility are not established by the available sources, so these should be confirmed locally before a visit. The mapped coordinates place the site at approximately 10.79422, -0.85522, with a probable Google Places match for "Bolgatanga Arts and Crafts Village" at 10.7935537, -0.8549842.