AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Tucked into a commercial terrace on Libreville's busy Boulevard Léon Mba, Les Koudoo de Zazou is a small museum devoted to an unusual passion: the miniature. Opened in 2021, it is presented as the first museum of miniatures in Gabon, a cabinet of tiny artworks and figurines assembled for the delight of children and grown-ups alike.↗
The idea came from its founder, Maryse Duboze-Aila Ngouoni, a child and adolescent psychologist who turned a lifelong fascination with small, delicate objects into a public space. The playful name captures that spirit: in Gabonese slang a "coudou" (spelled koudoo here) affectionately refers to a person of tiny stature, while "Zazou" is the founder's own nickname—so the museum is, in effect, a little world named after the little things she loves.
A museum built around the miniature
Most art museums in Libreville lean toward traditional masks, carving or contemporary painting; Les Koudoo de Zazou goes in the opposite direction, shrinking the world down instead. The collections gather miniature art objects and figurines—hand-worked pieces, tiny scenes and dollhouse-scale curiosities—displayed to be admired up close and to spark the same sense of wonder the founder felt as a child. It is intimate by design, the kind of place where leaning in and searching out the smallest detail is the whole point of the visit.