When the country was liberated on July 1994, everything was in shambles; the economy was itself on its knees before it crumbled completely during the Genocide against the Tutsi.  There was no infrastructure to speak of and downtown Kigali looked like a ghost city, and the peripheries even worse.

In this pictorial, we bring you pictures depicting the transformation that Kigali has undergone over the past 26 years.

Banque Commerciale du Rwanda (BCR, now I&M Bank Rwanda) headquarters in the capital Kigali in 1998. File.

New-look I&M Bank Rwanda (formerly BCR) headquarters. Sam Ngendahimana.

A view of the "Rubangura” commercial complex in downtown Kigali in 2001. File.

A refurbished "Rubangura” commercial complex in 2020. Sam Ngendahimana.

Former Downtown Taxi Park in Kigali’s Central Business District in 1998. File.

Kigali City Tower, which sits in the area that was previously occupied by the tax park, is one of the high-rise buildings that sprung up after RPF liberated the country. Sam Ngendahimana.

An aerial view downtown Kigali in 2007. File.

An aerial view of downtown Kigali in 2020. File.