The Zinsou foundation which runs the new art museum in Ouidah. Photo: AFP

Until last year, the few tourists who visited the small west African town of Ouidah were likely headed to the Gateway of No Return, a massive monument to the area's bleak history as a slave trading hub.

But the town may soon become known for an attraction of an entirely different sort: the first sub-Saharan Africa museum dedicated exclusively to contemporary African art.

The Zinsou Museum, installed in an ornate 100-year-old villa, has attracted 13,000 visitors since its launch in November - an impressive tally for an out-of-the-way town in the sparsely visited nation of Benin.

The reputation - and monetary value - of contemporary African art has steadily risen in recent years. Curators and collectors from North America and Europe frequently fly in to artistic hubs like Lagos, Nigeria seeking new talent and new work by established names.

But for Marie-Celine Zinsou, who spearheaded the creation of the museum, better notoriety for African artists abroad was not enough.

While on a trip to Benin with a France based children's charity in 2005 she wanted to take a group of youths to an art museum.

"I found that there wasn't any structure to show (the children) work from their own continent," she told.

AFP