Reunification Monument Cameroon

The reunification monument is located in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. It was built in the early 1970s to celebrate the reunification of Cameroon.

Principal monument In Yaoundé is located near the French Embassy and the Ministry of Defence, it is a composite work that symbolizes the entire history of the formation of Cameroon, in particular the reunification of Southern Cameroon and Eastern Cameroon in 1961, and the unification of the federated republics into United Republic of Cameroon in 1972.

Work of the French architect Armand Salomon, the Cameroonian sculptor Gédéon Mpando and the Jesuit father Engelbert Mveng, the monument represents on the foreground an old man with five children on his arms, brandishing the national torch, symbol of Liberty. On a symbolic level, the fact that the torch is carried by the old man and not by the children means that it is necessary to illuminate the path from tradition to modernity, to transmit the wisdom of ancestral tradition to new generations.

The main monument represent two serpents coiling around a pillar with the heads merging at the top. This symbolizes the reunification of the two parts of Cameroon, one French-speaking and the other English-speaking.

The monument was erected between 1973 and 1976, the monument is in Yaoundé to immortalize the event of the Reunification of French-speaking and English-speaking Cameroon in 1961. Former President of the United Republic of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo was launching a national and international competition to perform a reunification performance.

3 people are selected:

• Bishop Engelbert Mveng, Cameroonian and designer of the spiral tower and the representation of the cultural eras of the new state.
• Armand Salomon, French architect and director of the main monument. Little known to Cameroonians, he was chosen on the recommendation of the French
• Gédéon Mpando, Cameroonian artist designer and director of the secondary monument. Back from France, he was entrusted with the construction of the adjoining monument. The Arts nègres workshop and the Cetouba company accompany him. Etolo Eya contributes with works of art visible in the basement of the main building.

In the center of the room, a large pillar that ends on the outside with a brush. Four pillars made of engravings describing the experience of the populations of the five cultural eras of Cameroon and the signature of the designers and directors of the monument.

At the base of the monument is a pylon that serves as the central axis and two stair entrance. The two staircase are in the shape of a screw made up of two ramps engaged one on the other, the two revolutions following each other to meet on the terrace platform at the top. A person descending by a stair rail will therefore not meet the person ascending it. The lantern is placed on a concrete cone with openings. And this work represents fifty-three tons of concrete and a height of about seven meters. Around the monument and the statue is a green space formed by lawns and flowering plants. The whole is divided by ramps and access stairs coming from the outside.