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The Gedi ruins were first discovered by colonialists in 1884 after a British resident of Zanzibar, Sir John Kirk, visited the site. However, the ruins remained obscured until its subsequent rediscovery in the 1920s, when the site began to gain attention from the British East African Government. Gedi was made a historic monument in 1927 and after looters began removing Chinese porcelain inset as architectural decorations, the site was declared a protected monument in 1929. In 1939, the Kenya Public Works Department began restoring structures that were at the greatest risk of collapse. Further site restoration, primarily clearing vegetation overgrowth, was conducted during a series of archaeological excavations led by James Kirkman from 1948 to 1958 who was appointed warden after Gedi and the surrounding forest was declared a national park in 1948.

In 1969, stewardship for Gedi was turned over to the National Museum of Kenya and is currently administered by the museum’s Department of Coastal Archaeology. In 2000, the construction of a museum funded by the European Union concluded, which featured a permanent display on Swahili Culture.