Kigali Memorial Centre
The Kigali Memorial Centre was opened on the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, in April 2004. The Centre is built on a site where over 250,000 people are buried. These graves are a clear reminder of the cost of ignorance. The Centre is a permanent memorial to those who fell victim to the genocide and serves as a place for people to grieve those they lost.
The Centre is managed and run by the Aegis Trust and the Kigali City Council.
History
In 2000, the Kigali City Council began to construct the shell of a building, which was eventually to become the Memorial Centre. Aegis was invited to turn the aspiration for a centre into a reality.
The Aegis Trust then began to collect data from across the world to create the three graphical exhibits. The text for all three was printed in three languages, designed in the UK at the Aegis head office by their design team, and shipped to Rwanda to be installed.
In April 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the genocide that split Rwanda apart, the Kigali Memorial Centre was inaugurated. The centre provides an opportunity to offer a place in which the bereaved could bury their families and friends, and over 250,000 victims of the genocide are buried at the site.
The response from genocide survivors to the creation of the centre was unpredicted. In the first week, over 1,500 survivors visited each day. In the first three months of the centre's opening, around 60,000 people from a variety of backgrounds visited it. Over 7,000 of these visitors were from the international community.
Facility
The centre includes three permanent exhibitions, the largest of which documents the genocide in 1994. There is a children’s memorial and an exhibition on the history of genocidal violence around the world. The Education Centre, Memorial Gardens and National Documentation Centre of the Genocide contribute to a meaningful tribute to those who perished and form a powerful educational tool for the next generation.
The Kigali Memorial Centre is international. It deals with a topic of international importance, with far-reaching significance, and is designed to engage and challenge an international visitor base.
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