Luzira Head
- Audio guide stop: 175
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Uganda
- Date: 1750 (or earlier)
- Object type: figure
- Materials: terracotta
- Museum number: Af1931,0105.14
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is "The Luzira Head," a remarkable terracotta sculpture from Uganda, made by the Baganda people. This head, hollow in form, may portray a man or a woman, with features and decoration applied separately rather than carved into the clay. Notice the intricate details on the surface — they are not part of the original塑造 but added, possibly to represent a wig or elaborately styled hair, a practice seen among ritual practitioners.
This artifact was discovered at Luzira, a site of a shrine connected to the royal Buganda household, where priests of the Otter clan oversaw spiritual matters. Fragments from the same site hint at a long period of use — possibly from as early as the 2nd millennium AD up to the 19th century. You're looking at a rare and unique piece, unlike others found elsewhere in Uganda.
See it in person
Luzira Head is on display in Room 25 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 175, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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