Tengenenge is a typical African village in the North of Zimbabwe, at the foot of the Great Dyke. The difference with other villages is the occupation of the inhabitants: they all make a living from sculpting.

The village is an open-air gallery. More than 11.000 sculptures are exhibited, made by over 300 different sculptors, each having their own style, performance and stand.

About a hundred sculptor families live in Tengenenge. Some families, like the family of Josiah and Janet Manzi, consist of 3 generations of sculptors.

Short history
1966 1966-1980 1968 1972-1980 1980 1989 1994 1995-2004 2005	Tengenge village was founded by Tom Blomefield, former tobacco farmer and chrome miner economic sanctions on Zimbabwe by the United Nations and the Commonwealth, made life in Zimbabwe very difficult first exhibition of Tengenenge artists in the National Galley in Harare, a big success: everything was sold war between guerrilla groups, fighting for power The only possibility to sell sculptures was to bring them to South Africa, a complex and dangerous operation in that time Robert Mugabe becomes president of Zimbabwe and the war is over. During the celebrations of independence many sculptures were sold to foreign journalists. After that it became very difficult again; Zimbabwe was very poor and no tourists came. first exhibition in Europe: “beelden op de berg” in Wageningen, the Netherlands large exhibition at Kasteel Groeneveld, Baarn, the Netherlands exhibitions and sales all over the world Although Zimbabwe is facing severe economic problems, and hardly any tourist is travelling to the country, Tengenenge still sells to galleries all over the world and survives.
Buying sculptures in Tengenenge
All sales are concluded by the sales department. The sculptors receive the stone for free and have free living in Tengenenge. On sale, they pay 35% commission to Tengenenge for mining and other common expenses. Prices can be negotiated with the sculptors. If a sculptor is not around somebody from the sales department will represent him. In case one wants to buy several sculptures it is wise to stick stickers with the buyer's name on the sculptures. Tengenenge can take care of packing, transport to Harare and if requested also to the customer's home country (by an international transport company in Harare).