This site is one of the scenes of the brutal murder of the people who were killed in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. Located in Bugesera in a distance of about 30km from Kigali, the contents of the museum are a reminder of the violence in which many people were killed in 1994.
Location: In the provincial town of the same name in the Bugesera region, which is now administratively part of Rwanda’s eastern province, roughly 15 miles (25 km) south from Kigali (as the crow flies: more like 40 miles (65 km) on the road).
Thus one of the very darkest sites anywhere in this world. Real heavy stuff. Seriously. Go well prepared.
Nyamata was one of the worst sites of the unfolding of the genocide – the numbers of victims alone are staggering. 10,000 people were murdered inside the church building alone – yet more outside. The figures given vary, but it could have been as many as 24,000.
Like Ntarama, Nyamata lies in a region that had a particularly high proportion of Tutsis amongst the population. This was partly due to the fact that after the first genocidal developments in 1959 and the early 1960s (when Rwanda gained its independence and Hutu majority rule was installed), Tutsis were forcibly resettled here, as it was considered an unfavourable part of the land.
