Benin -- Abomey

This is a photo of one of the palaces you can visit in Abomey, Benin, which used to be the seat of a large West African empire until its last king was defeated by the French and then deported to Morocco. The largest palace, which has been thoroughly restored, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and throughout the city you can see other, smaller palaces from the empire that are in various states of restoration (one of which is pictured here as photos at the UNESCO site are verboten). The palaces are most famous for the bas-relief designs that you can see on the outside walls, some of which feature a weapon, animal or other object, which served as the symbol of the king who lived in the palace (when each king reached a certain age, he had to leave his father's palace and build his own). Other designs show battle and other scenes. One of the most vivid at the UNESCO site depicted a soldier being attacked with another, obviously dead, soldier's leg.