The Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) is the legal custodian of Ghana’s material cultural heritage (movable and immovable heritage). The Board was established in March 1957 – on the eve of Ghana’s independence - as a result of the merger of the then interim Council of the National Museum of the Gold Coast and the Monuments and Relics Commission. The GMMB is governed by the National Liberation Council Decree (NLCD) 387 of 1969, now known as Act 387 of 1969, which was further strengthened by the Executive Instrument (E.I.) 29 of 1973.

The history of GMMB can be traced to the establishment of an Ethnographic Museum at Achimota College in 1929. That museum was transferred to the Department of Archaeology at the University of the Gold Coast, when the university was created in 1948.

In 1952, there was the awareness of the need to conserve the past. The British Colonial government then put in place an ‘Interim Council of the National Museum of the Gold Coast’ to facilitate the creation of a national museum.

The Interim Council of the National Museum of the Gold Coast and the Monuments and Relics Commission merged, and this led to the passing of the Museum and Monuments Board Ordinance (GOLD COAST No. 20 of 1957), which established the GMMB.