Maputo: Museums, Architectural History and FEIMA

The history of money, architecture and an open-air market give Maputo a range of cultural facets. The places and topics span a collection of coins and banknotes, historic buildings and goods sold at FEIMA. This offers different ways to get to know the city, without everything revolving around the same kind of attraction.

Museums and their themes

The Museu Nacional da Moeda is located in Casa Amarela and is administered by Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. Its collection comprises around 4,300 coins, coin-like objects, banknotes and medals. Around 1,000 of these objects are related to Mozambique. This range makes the museum a specific point of interest for anyone interested in the history of money and different forms of currency.

The Museu dos CFM also offers a distinctive perspective on Maputo's history: the museum offers guided tours of its permanent exhibition and the railway station building. If you are planning a tour, check the dates in advance. This will help you fit the visit into your travel plans.

Architectural history in Maputo

Casa Amarela was built in 1860 and is considered the first brick house in the city of Lourenço Marques, now Maputo. The history of the house and the Museu Nacional da Moeda housed inside it bring architectural history together with a look at coins, banknotes and medals. Since 1933, the Museu de História Natural has been housed in a building constructed by the municipal government in a Manueline-inspired style. Casa de Ferro, in turn, has a clearly stated institutional use: it houses the Ministério da Cultura e do Turismo.

These places offer different points of emphasis: Casa Amarela brings architectural history and a collection of money together, while the Museu de História Natural stands out for its long use of a distinctive building. Casa de Ferro adds a connection to a government cultural and tourism institution. When planning your trip, it is helpful to treat these as separate ideas rather than combining them into a single tour or a shared visitor experience.

The market and its goods

FEIMA, short for Feira de Artesanato, Flores e Gastronomia de Maputo, is an open-air market in the leafy grounds of Parque dos Continuadores. Items for sale include home accessories, fashion jewellery, colourful capulanas, described as traditional women's clothing, and accessories. Its range of goods is therefore quite different from the museum collections and architectural history. If you are interested in markets, FEIMA offers a distinct point of interest in Maputo.

There is a clear distinction when choosing what to experience on your trip: museums represent collections, the buildings described represent architecture and history, and FEIMA offers goods in an open-air setting. Which themes you prioritise depends on whether you are more interested in coins and exhibitions, historic buildings or the goods on offer. The guided tours at the Museu dos CFM are the specific guided experience mentioned; check the current dates in advance.

Mozambique beyond Maputo

The wider destination of Mozambique offers additional themes that are distinctly nature-focused. Quirimbas National Park, in Cabo Delgado Province, was established in 2002 and covers around 7,500 square kilometres of land and sea. The Quirimbas Archipelago consists of 27 islands, 11 of which are part of the national park. These details describe the archipelago and the park within the wider destination of Mozambique, not Maputo's museums or markets.

Limpopo National Park offers a different perspective on the landscape: its habitats include sandy plains, mopane savannahs, wooded savannahs and floodplains. Animals living there include elephants, rhinos and buffalo. The park was established in 2001 through cooperation between the government and the Peace Parks Foundation. These landscapes and animals give an impression of the themes that shape Mozambique's national parks alongside the capital region's cultural history.

In the wider destination of Mozambique, numerous bird species, as well as hippos and Nile crocodiles, can be observed at the Chingute, Piti and Maundo lagoons in Maputo National Park. Another point of interest elsewhere in the country is Ilha de Moçambique in Nampula Province: it is a limestone coral reef in the Indian Ocean at the entrance to Mossuril Bay. Its heritage includes defensive structures and numerous religious buildings, many dating from the 16th century. Examples like these broaden the view of Mozambique to include natural and cultural landscapes in other parts of the country.

Discover more destinations: Namaacha, Matutuíne District, Goba Fronteira, Marracuene District, Catembe.

You can also explore these destinations: Tete Province, Gaza Province, Sofala.

Go to the overview of destinations: Mozambique.