The Royal Palace of Porto-Novo, now known as Musée Honmè, preserves the court of the kings of Hogbonu. Oral traditions connect the kingdom's foundation with Te-Agbanlin, a prince from Allada, during the seventeenth century, although dates and genealogies vary among sources. The settlement also became known as Porto-Novo through Portuguese commercial contact. Within the palace compound, successive rulers governed a multilingual port community tied to inland agriculture, regional markets, Atlantic commerce, religious institutions, and the traffic in enslaved people.

Honmè means the space within the gate and refers to more than a single residence. Courtyards, reception areas, shrines, family quarters, kitchens, stores, and council spaces organized the royal household. Walls and roofs were renewed in local materials as ceremonies and occupants changed. The king's authority depended on ministers, lineage heads, ritual specialists, traders, soldiers, women of the court, servants, and subject communities. Sacred areas gave the compound meanings that cannot be separated from its political and domestic functions.

The best-documented resident was King Toffa, who ruled from 1874 to 1908 during intense rivalry among Porto-Novo, the kingdom of Dahomey, European merchants, and colonial powers. Toffa sought French protection against Dahomean pressure and signed agreements that enabled France to deepen its control. French forces later defeated Dahomey and made Porto-Novo the official capital of the colony of Dahomey. The king retained ceremonial standing, but colonial administration narrowed the sovereignty once exercised from the palace.

After colonial conquest, the court continued within a city increasingly shaped by government buildings, Afro-Brazilian architecture, Christian and Muslim institutions, and new commercial districts. Benin's independence in 1960 preserved Porto-Novo as the constitutional capital, even as many national offices developed in Cotonou. The former royal residence was adapted as a site museum. Objects associated with court life, religion, music, furniture, ceramics, photography, and King Toffa help interpret the kingdom without treating the palace as an empty architectural shell.

Musée Honmè remains partly a sacred and dynastic place, so museum practice must coexist with restrictions and living ceremonies. Conservation is challenging because earthen surfaces, timber, humidity, insects, and repeated traditional renewal do not fit a simple model of preserving one original construction date. The palace and surrounding historic quarters have been recognized for their heritage value within Porto-Novo. Their significance lies in the interaction of African monarchy, Atlantic trade, religious continuity, colonial diplomacy, and modern nationhood, all concentrated within a compound that still carries profound royal meaning today.