Kasubi tombs to reopen to the public this December after 13 years of reconstruction

After more than 12 years of reconstruction works after catching fire in 2010, Kasubi tombs, the burial grounds for Buganda’s kings are set to be reopened to the public this December according to Anthony Wamala, the kingdom’s minister of heritage and tourism.

The kingdom has been working tirelessly to restore the tombs to their traditional architecture and with the works now near completion, the kingdom hopes that the tombs will soon be removed from the endangered heritage list and resorted back to UNESCO’s World Heritage sites during this month’s 45th session of the World Heritage committee scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 10th to 25th September. 

Wamala noted that the most crucial works on the tombs are finished with just a few works still ongoing such as leveling the courtyard, making the floor inside the tombs, installing inner pillars, and bidding the reeds for the fence around the tombs.

“We expect that by end of this year, most of the works will be finished for the tombs to be opened to the public again,” he said.

Following the fire, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) included Kasubi tombs on llst of world heritages in danger. The list is designed to inform the international community of conditions that threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List and to encourage corrective action. 

There are currently 55 sites in the world included on the list of world heritage in danger with Kasubi tombs being one of them. According to UNESCO, the authenticity of the tombs was weakened by fire especially the main tomb structure known as Muzibu azaala mpanga in 2010 which houses four royal tombs.

“In June this year, officials from UNESCO inspected the tombs and made some recommendations on the work being done and we have worked on most of them. We therefore have high hopes that Kasubi tombs is going to be removed from the endangered heritage sites and listed back on the world heritage sites. If this happens, it will be a boost for Buganda’s tourism and Uganda at large,” Wamala said.

According to UNESCO, the greatest threat to the site is fire and therefore there is a need to develop a detailed risk management plan to address this threat in particular and to ensure that the site’s documentation is as complete as possible and securely stored. 

Through a $560,000 (about Shs 2 billion) donation from the Japanese government, the kingdom has now installed firefighting equipment around the tomb premises. These include smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, water hoses reels fire hydrants as well as training all the people who live within the tombs on how to use these equipment in case of a fire outbreak.

“Culture is one of the key pillars in cooperation between Japan and Uganda and between Japan and UNESCO to protect very important cultural heritage of Uganda and I am impressed with the work being done here and measures which have been put in place to prevent fires,” said Tomotaka Yoshimura, deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Japan in Uganda.

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