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Douala is the largest city and economic capital of Cameroon, the capital of the Littoral Region on the Wouri estuary, famous for its busy port, La Pagode palace of the Bell kings, the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, the Wouri Bridge and its open-air public art such as La Nouvelle Liberté.
Portuguese sailors reached the estuary around 1472 and named it Rio dos Camarões, the river of prawns, which later gave Cameroon its name. The Duala kings Bell and Akwa traded with Europeans for centuries, signed a treaty with Germany in 1884, and the town became the capital of the German colony as Kamerunstadt until 1901.
The old administrative quarter of Bonanjo keeps La Pagode, Villa Mandessi Bell and the Maritime Museum, while Akwa is the commercial heart with the Temple du Centenaire. Artworks commissioned by the art centre Doual'art dot the roundabouts, and Japoma Stadium hosts major football matches.
La Pagode in Douala is the palace of the Bell kings, built in 1905 in Bonanjo by German builders for King Auguste Manga Ndumbe. Its stacked roofs inspired the nickname, taken from Céline's novel Voyage au bout de la nuit, and King Rudolf Duala Manga Bell lived here until his arrest in 1914.
Villa Mandessi Bell in Douala was built between 1904 and 1910 by David Mandessi Bell, a wealthy planter and steward of King Rudolf Manga Bell. Its terracotta brick walls keep the rooms cool, and its broad metal roof shields the house from the heavy rains of the coast, a survivor of the German era.
The Bell Kings Monument in Douala is the funeral vault of the Bell dynasty, the Duala kings whose palace, La Pagode, still stands nearby in Bonanjo. Its white obelisk honours a royal line that traded with Europeans for centuries and signed the 1884 treaty that made Cameroon a German colony.
The Akwa Kings Monument in Douala is the burial vault of the Akwa kings, who ruled the Akwa quarter, today the city's busy business district. Statues of the kings stand over the tombs, recalling the Duala chiefs who traded with Europeans on the Wouri estuary, and it is a key heritage stop.
The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Douala, seat of the Archbishop of Douala, was built in 1936 by French Spiritan fathers in Bonadibong. Its columns and domes give it a Byzantine air, with a neo-Roman porch and two twin towers framing the front, and it is the city's main Catholic church.
The Temple du Centenaire in Douala was built in 1947 to mark one hundred years of the first Bethel church of 1847, on the land of King Akwa where the missionary Alfred Saker settled in 1845. It belongs to the Evangelical Church of Cameroon and is a landmark of the Akwa district.
The Wouri Bridge, also called the Bonabéri Bridge, carries road traffic across the Wouri River between Douala and Bonabéri. Built by French firms from 1951 to 1954 and inaugurated on 15 May 1955, it was then the third longest bridge in Africa and the continent's longest concrete bridge.
Japoma Stadium in Douala is a 50,000-seat stadium designed by AECOM and opened in December 2020. It hosted matches of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, played in early 2022, and the 2024 African Championships in Athletics, and also stages matches of Cameroon's national team.
La Nouvelle Liberté is the giant statue on the Deido roundabout in Douala, made in 1996 by the sculptor Joseph-Francis Sumégné from scrap metal and recycled parts. It stands 12 metres high with a 5-metre wingspan and has become one of the best-known symbols of the city.
La Colonne Pascale is a 12-metre public artwork on a busy roundabout in the New Bell district of Douala, made by Pascale Marthine Tayou and unveiled in 2010. It is a stack of 76 enamel cooking pots and 38 lids, a tribute to the women of Cameroon and their cooking, and was restored in 2013.
Doual'art is an art centre in Douala founded in 1991 by Marilyn Douala Bell and Didier Schaub, with a gallery in Bonanjo since 1995. It runs the SUD Salon Urbain de Douala, which brought many of the city's public artworks, including La Nouvelle Liberté, officially unveiled at the 2007 edition.
The Maritime Museum of Douala, in Bonanjo on the Rue de l'Hôpital, has been in its ship-shaped building since 17 December 2013. It tells the story of Douala's port and shipping on the Wouri estuary, the trade that made the city Cameroon's main gateway to the sea.
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