Porto-Novo

Porto-Novo Hogbonou and Adjacé
Coordinates:
Country	Benin
Population  (2002)
• Total	223,552
Time zone	UTC+1

Downtown road

Porto-Novo (also known as Hogbonou and Adjacé) is the capital of the West African country of Benin. The city has a population of 223,552 people Porto-Nova is a port on an inlet of the Gulf of Guinea, in the southeastern part of the country. Porto-Novo is Benin's second largest city. The city of Cotonou is larger and more important, culturally and politically. The region around Porto-Novo produces palm oil, cotton and kapok. Petroleum was found off the coast of the city in the 1990s. It has become an important export of the city.

Things to see

• The Porto Novo Museum of Ethnography has a large collection of Yoruba masks. It also has items on the history of the city and of Benin.
• King Toffa's palace (also known as the Musée Honmé and the Royal Palace) is now a museum that shows what life was like for African royalty.
• Jardin Place Jean Bayol is a large plaza which has a statue of the first King of Porto-Novo.
• The da Silva Museum is a museum of Benin history.
• The palais de Gouverneur (Governor's palace) is the home of the national legislature.

Another place of interest is a Brazilian-style church which is now a mosque. Stade Municipale and Stade Charles de Gaulle, or Charles de Gaulle Stadium, are the largest football stadiums in the city.

Other websites

• Official Republic of Benin tourism site for Porto-Novo Archived 2007-04-09 at the Wayback Machine
• Images of the Central Mosque of Porto-Novo Archived 2007-03-12 at the Wayback Machine