New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum is a voodoo museum in New Orleans, located between Bourbon and Royal Streets in the center of the French Quarter. Although it is only a small museum, consisting of two rooms, it is one of the few museums in the world devoted entirely to Vodou art.The small museum has been inviting its visitors to experience mysticism and the occult for nearly half a century. It was founded in 1972 by Charles Massicot Gandolfo, a local artist with a passion for all things voodoo – his nickname would become "Voodoo Charlie". The museum focuses on what is commonly known as New Orleans Voodoo, or Louisiana Voodoo. New Orleans voodoo is an amalgam of African and European influences that have mixed in the cultural melting pot of New Orleans. Originally brought to the city in the early 1700s through the African slave trade, Louisiana Voodoo blends together influences from multiple cultures. It is one of many incarnations of religions rooted in West African Vodun, with elements of Louisiana’s Catholic and Francophone cultures.
The tenets of Louisiana Voodoo include the recognition of a God, who does not interfere in daily life, and spiritual forces that do. These spirits can be kind or spiteful, and followers can connect with them through dance, music, and song. Snakes are a common motif in Louisiana Voodoo, as they represent the Legba, a spiritual conduit between heaven and earth.
A plethora of interesting objects and artifacts fill the museum, including antique voodoo dolls, taxidermy, talismans and even the kneeling bench that once belonged to the famous voodoo priestess Maria Laveau.
