Inside the Royal Court of the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Ghana

To slowly start learning about Ghanaian culture, I decided that a visit to the spiritual center of the largest ethnic group in Ghana, the Ashanti kingdom (Asante empire). In 1670, Osei Tutu I unified the Akan-speaking people under a single protectorate, creating strong alliances and trading relationships. He built the capital, Kumasi and created the golden stool, a sacred object and the "seat of power" in this kingdom. This empire is believed to have lasted from 1701 to 1901, and by 1750, had become one of the most powerful and wealthy people in the region, thriving on trade in gold, agriculture, slaves and advanced military prowess.

Kumasi is a bit of a long drive (from Accra 5+ hours, and Tema 3.5-4 hours) so we made sure to set out early for this journey. The trip was smooth and although the atmosphere in Kumasi was a slower pace than Accra, it still gave the feeling of a busy city. We headed straight to the Manhyia palace, and we gathered from the number of important looking men dressed in Kente fabric, that they were gearing up for an important meeting. Kente is a handwoven cloth made from silk and cotton and is worn on special occasions in Ghana.

The palace grounds are beautiful. It has a spacious layout dotted with special trees and sculptures of culturally significant animals such as the lion and the porcupine. The lion represents kingship, authority and courage and the porcupine represents military might, resilience and bravery. There are also live peacocks roaming the grounds and they represent royalty, majesty and honor.

There is a unique museum attached to the Manhyia palace and it cost 30 cedis for Ghanaian nationals and 50 for African foreigners. It is housed in a section of the palace, rather than a separate building so you get to experience the traditional palace architecture with modern day features, Unfortunately much of this floor is off limits for photography. The tour starts with a documentary about the history of the Akan people. You get to see the way they move and dress, deliberate and graceful strides, heavy like gold. The rest of this section features original items that the royal families would use on a daily basis such as telephones, radio, appliances, dining-ware, office furnishings and decor, each one serves as a piece of the Ashanti historical fabric.

In the upper floor of the museum, photography is allowed and there is a number of solid gold artefacts that the Ashanti people are known for. A number of these artefacts were plundered by the British but a (small) fraction of what was looted has been sent back home. Over the course of nearly a century, there were a series of 5 conflicts known as the Anglo-Ashanti Wars. The final one being the War of the golden stool in 1900, whereby a representative of England made a political error by insisting he sat on the sacred stool - the spiritual throne of the kingdom and this enraged the people.

During the subsequent meeting deliberating on what to do, Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen mother of Ejisu noticed that some of the chiefs were afraid and spoke about avoiding conflict despite being disrespected. She famously rose up during the meeting and said if the men were not going to fight for the honor of the kingdom, the women will! Reports say that she visited the Yaw Tano Shrine, the physical dwelling of the powerful Akan deity associated with the river Tano, protection and spiritual fortification. It was hereafter she led the famous rebellion and secured their sacred treasure, although they were captured and exiled to the Seychelles after the British called for military backup.

Over the near century that these conflicts occurred, the British looted massive amounts of cultural and spiritual artefacts from the Ashanti empire, most are still in private collections and foreign museums, waiting to go back where they are spiritually relevant. While Nana Yaw Asantewaa died in exile, Asantehene Prempeh I, returned in 1924 to Kumasi and beheld a brand new palace that the British had built as a gift. He declined the gift, and the kingdom decided to pay for the palace in gold to assert independence from the invaders, and the building is now the Manhyia Palace Museum. I found this statement quite elegant and once again speaks to the high regard the Ashanti hold themselves in.

The upper floor of the museum also houses life-sized replicas of the royals in their regalia, and it was quite fascinating to see what they looked like while they were still alive. You are not allowed to photograph these statues because they don't want people disrespecting images of their royals, however you can take photos with the statue of the present-day Asantehene for a small fee. Once the tour concluded, we made our way to the gift shop and purchased a couple of keepsakes. It had been a lovely experience, one we wouldn't forget in a hurry.

The museum and palace are an extraordinary link to Ashanti and Ghanaian history as a whole and it is almost impossible to learn about everything due to how vast and rich it all is. The tour guides however do a fantastic job in narrating the highlights and we walked away from this experience more enlightened about the history of our Ashanti neighbors.