Traditional Benin Architecture: A Visit to Ogiamen's House

Hi, I'm Oluwalanu and I am on a journey around Nigeria to learn about the beautiful and rich culture of our ethnic groups. Today we're in benin and we’re going to visit a home that’s over a 100 years old to see what ancient Benin Architecture looked like.

If you listened to the story yesterday then you know Benin went through a period where there was no ruler on the throne because Ekaladerhan had to flea Benin. This was in the 12th century.

This meant that Benin had to find a regent to administer over the kingdom. The titles of the regents that presided over Benin at that time was called Ogiamen. I visited the Ogiamen's home in Benin and was fortunate enough to have some of his descendants show me around.

You can watch the full video below

The experience was very interesting and I am always happy to learn about our ancient cultures. The structure was quite big and had courtyards in each major room for ventilation. The ancient Benin architecture does not have any windows. The walls are made of the red clay sand naturally found on the ground in Benin. We visited several rooms in the house to understand how people lived in those days.