Kasubi Tombs: Palace, Power, and the Afterlife of Buganda Kings
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What if a king never truly dies?
In Buganda, power doesn’t end with a funeral. It transforms.
Today, the royal palace is modern, more European in design than ancestral. But at the Kasubi Tombs, the old world still breathes. This episode traces how the king’s presence moved from palace to tomb, how his body became spirit, and how his home became sacred ground. We step inside a world where the roof was measured to the size of his head, where each clan held a cosmic role, and where power radiated from one man like the sun.
This isn’t just history.
It’s memory made architecture.
And the king?...Well.
He never really left.
Part 2: “Royal Widows” drops August 31st.
Youtube Video Link: https://youtu.be/nHKlrbTjKnA
Sources!!!!
Kiwanuka, M. S. M. A History of Buganda: From the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900. London: Longman, 1971.Kodesh, Neil. Beyond the Royal Gaze: Clanship and Public Healing in Buganda. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
Ray, Benjamin C. Myth, Ritual, and Kingship in Buganda. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Roscoe, John. The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911.
Reid, Richard J. Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda: Economy, Society, and Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: James Currey, 2002.
Wrigley, Christopher. Kingship and State: The Buganda Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
CyArk. “Royal Tombs at Kasubi – 3D Explorer.” Accessed June 2025. https://cyark.org/projects/royal-tombs-at-kasubi/3D-Explorer 8. Personal Interview with Catherine guide at Kasubi & Field Footage (Kasubi Tombs 2025)
