Nairobi Gallery

The Nairobi Gallery occupies one of the city's oldest public buildings, a stone structure completed in 1913 at the corner of Kenyatta Avenue and Uhuru Highway. During the colonial period it held the office that registered births, marriages and deaths, and after independence it served as the Provincial Commissioner's office. It was declared a national monument in 1995, passed to the National Museums of Kenya in 1997 and opened as a gallery in 2005.

Step inside the octagonal domed hall at the original entrance and you are standing at Point Zero, the spot from which distances across Kenya were once measured. The building itself is part of the visit, with its dome, stone walls and teak doors and windows, and two old safes used by the colonial government are still on display.

The heart of the collection belongs to Joseph Murumbi, Kenya's second vice-president, and his wife Sheila, who were major private collectors of African heritage. Their artefacts, art, books, jewellery, postage stamps, textiles and furniture fill several rooms, and a room dedicated to the couple includes a Lamu sofa and a Zanzibar cupboard. The Pioneer Art Gallery hosts temporary exhibitions by established and emerging artists roughly every three months, alongside photographs of early African artists from the 1960s. Look out too for Turkana jewellery, Nubian baskets and kangas among the textiles and crafts.

The gallery is compact, so an hour is usually enough. Guided tours are available and audio guides can be requested, which helps with the background to individual pieces. There are weekend and holiday activities for children, and a gift shop sells publications and art. In 2019 the exhibits were digitised for Google Arts and Culture, so you can preview several rooms online. Opening hours are not listed on the museum's page, so call ahead to confirm before visiting.

It sits at the western edge of the central business district, next to Nyayo House and close to Uhuru Park. From here it is a short walk or ride to KICC, the Kenya National Archives and Jamia Mosque, so it slots easily into a half day of sightseeing in the historic centre.