Field Museum announces closure of Africa Hall.
After four years of planning, the Field Museum closed its Africa Hall on October 6, 2025. The new hall is planned to open in spring of 2028.
Overview of the Project
One of the four core initiatives of the Museum’s Strategic Plan 2022-2028 is the renovation of its galleries of Africa and ancient Egypt. While most museums treat Africa and Egypt separately, we want to incorporate Egypt into Africa. The proposed new hall will integrate an Egypt destination within a thematically organized exhibition about the African continent.
Africa holds stories of the origins of humanity, and of great human achievements from ancient times through to the present. By reimagining our galleries of Egypt and Africa together, we have an opportunity to tell a story vital to humanity – and we can tell it in newly inclusive ways.
Building on the Field’s growing practice of community consultation, we can engage community members as partners and collaborators to create a powerfully relevant exhibition and represent local African communities.
Curators
- Dr. Foreman Bandama, Field Museum Assistant Curator of African Archaeology
- Dr. Emily Teeter, Curator of Egyptian and Nubian Antiquities; Research Associate, at the Institute for Study of the Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago
Schedule
- Africa Hall officially closed to the public on Monday, October 6, 2025
- Content Development Phase, October 2024-July 2025
- Design Phase, July 2025-October 2026
- Production Phase, October 2026-March 2028
- Proposed Opening Date: Spring 2028 (official date TBD)
The Bamum (baa-MOOM) have lived for centuries in western Cameroon. The double-headed snake became their royal symbol in the 1800s, a reminder of King Mbuembue’s heroic army that fought enemies on two fronts at the same time—and won.
Field Museum. Photographer: John Weinstein
Broad, flat sandals provide extra support on soft, hot sand for the Tuareg, nomadic people who live in the North African desert.
Field Museum
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