Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre

One of the most beautiful historical sites in Rwanda, the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre is one of the destinations to visit when it comes to places that best preserve Rwanda's heritage, especially its dark past. It's an astonishing but sad place that graphically depicts Rwanda's tumultuous past.

One may have read all the stories and possibly seen movies about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in which over one million people were killed, but when one encounters the reality of the genocide when visiting the Genocide Memorial Site, it is a completely different story.

Indeed, Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre is a place that deserves a visit for a better understanding of Rwanda's history and to appreciate how far the country has come, from the beautiful and extensive gardens to the quiet memorial building with walls covered with hundreds of thousands of names of people whose remains were laid to rest at the site.

Reports of systematic mass murder in Rwanda began to seep out of Rwanda in April 1994 and circulated across the world. There was little that could be done to stop the genocide. The genocide was portrayed to outsiders as a tribal-based ethnic conflict, with Tutsis as victims and Hutus as perpetrators. It's impossible to say exactly how many individuals were murdered; estimates range from 500,000 to over a million. The number of individuals murdered is usually estimated to be in the 800,000 range.

Location: Kigali