INTRODUCTION
The time period museum is from Historic Greek, Mouseoin, which implies “the place sacred to the muses.” Based on Greek Mythology Mouseoin was the temple of muses, the 9 goddesses that presided over poetry, songs, the humanities, sciences and studying. In Greek Mythology the 9 goddesses have been the daughters of Zeus, the King of the gods and Mnemosyne, the goddess of reminiscence. The Greeks believed that the muses lived on Mount Olympus with their chief, the god Apollo (American Affiliation of Museums, 2000). Within the third century B.C. through the rule of the Ptolemy Dynasty, when the Greeks dominated over Historic Egypt, Ptolemy 1 Soter based an establishment for literary and scientific examine in Alexandria and known as it a museum. With the revival of studying through the Renaissance within the fifteenth century A.D. Italian students stored their collections of historic supplies in rooms known as museums. The Renaissance nobles additionally had adorned their palaces with artwork, sculpture and collections of curiosities. It was a lot later that non-public collections handed to public possession and have been placed on show. For instance Pope Sixtus IV opened the Capitoline Museum to the general public in 1447 and this was adopted by Cesarini additionally in Rome. The primary museum to be operated as a nationwide establishment was the British Museum in 1753 adopted by the Palace of Louvre in Paris in 1793.Different well-known museums are the Artwork Gallery wherein the Mona Lisa is portrayed, the Metropolitan in New York, the Prado in Madrid, the Hermitage in Petersburg (Leningrad), and the Smithsonian in Washington (Sears, 2006).
ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SIERRA LEONE NATIONAL MUSEUM
‘There may be all the time one thing new from Africa’ acknowledged Pliny who lived from 23-79 A.D. This huge continent of Africa has some many firsts. The north of Africa is believed to be the cradle of civilization that’s Historic Egypt. It was in Historic Egypt that the primary museum got here into existence. Additional south are nearly impassible boundaries of desert and tropical forests, and past these, lies the larger a part of Africa recognized to the Arabs as Bilad-as-Sudan, the land of the Black folks. It was on this a part of Africa within the Rift Valley in East Africa also called Japanese Sudan that the oldest type of human life was found. The Western Sudan (West Africa) can boast of highly effective historic empires like Ghana, Songhai, Mali and Kanem Bornu.
Sierra Leone too has a really wealthy and numerous heritage. She has an plentiful pure life; her archaeological websites date again to the Previous Stone Age in Africa. Oral traditions date again to the time when the ancestors of present inhabitants settled of their respective areas. There’s a nice range of quite a few secret societies with their related cultural supplies such because the Poro, Bondo, Gbagbani, Kofo, Regbainlay and Mathoma Secret Societies. There are additionally the outdated conventional arts and crafts monuments and relics which commemorate folks and occasions way back. This heritage has been constructed upon over time by the works of sculptors, architects, painters, musicians, blacksmiths, goldsmiths and different creators of kind and wonder. As much as 1957 Sierra Leone had no museum. The Monument and Relics Fee of 1st June 1947 offered the idea for the safety and preservation of historic, historic and pure monuments, relics and different objects of archaeological, ethnographical (conventional Artwork ) and historic or different scientific curiosity as laid down by the Act. These historic relics have been scattered all around the nation amassing mud and mildew in authorities ware homes, whereas her ethnographical treasures have been being destroyed by climate wood-boring bugs. In 1954, Sir Robert de Zouche Corridor, a former Governor Normal challenged the Sierra Leone Society to create a Nationwide Museum for the nation. This museum, in keeping with the Governor, can contribute to the expansion of nationwide pleasure by amassing and preserving objects and making them accessible for contemplation and examine. This problem was taken up by M.C.F. Easmon and others with the formation of a Museum Sub-Committee (Cummings, 1996). The Previous Cotton Tree Railway Station was acquired and rehabilitated, with the assistance of presidency, and was opened on the tenth December, 1957. The Nationwide Museum, in keeping with Sir Maurice Dorman, was meant to gather, put so as and protect the work of man’s arms that was quick disappearing from the lives of Sierra Leoneans. The Nationwide Museum, he added, ‘needs to be a spot the place the illiterate man may be impressed by the show of what’s greatest in his tradition, each up to now and current, there-by maintaining a file of Sierra Leone for posterity.’
MUSEUM COVERAGE
The Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum covers three areas: Archaeology, Historical past and Ethnography. Within the space of Archaeology there are massive steatite (soapstone) heads, the Maye Yafe or Chiefs’ devils. These are believed to deliver good luck to Chiefs and unhealthy luck to the frequent man. There are figures known as Nomoli, that are an enigma and are of unknown antiquity. The curator believes that these figures date again to the Center Stone Age. There’s a massive assortment of poetry and potsherds and it’s believed that a few of the pots on show within the museum date again to B.C. days. There may be additionally an abundance of Previous Stone Age instruments similar to choppers, hand axes, and polished New Stone Age instruments along with many steatite bored stones which have been as soon as used as forex and as digging stick weights. Within the Historical past space probably the most outstanding merchandise is the unique Constitution of Sierra Leone signed in 1799 by King George III by which the settlement grew to become a British Colony. There are additionally fashions of the de Reuter Stone on which the Admiral engraved his identify after sacking Bunce and Tasso Islands in 1664. Bunce Island was a depot from the place slaves have been transported throughout the Atlantic Ocean. There are effigies of the late Sir Milton Margai, the primary Prime Minister of Sierra Leone and Bai Bureh, the final warrior chief who fought the British from 1898-1902. There may be additionally a number of supplies drawn from the colonial interval similar to canon, staffs of chiefs, swords, medals, cash, pictures, work and paperwork. Within the space of Ethnography (Conventional Artwork) there are totally dressed masquerading dancers e.g. Sowei of the Bondo Society, Goboi, the regalia of Chiefs, Secret Society paraphernalia, beautiful carved masks, carvings in human and animal kind, indigenous musical devices just like the drums that are integral in African rituals in beginning, initiation and demise, textile, basketry and different crafts. The Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum has a powerful assortment of artifacts and is really a retailer home of the nation’s cultural treasures (Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum Prospectus, 2013).
ROLE OF THE MUSEUM
The Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum preserves the nationwide heritage; it’s a complicated establishment for analysis, training and tradition. It’s an instrument of mass training, which caters for the wants of literates and illiterates, each younger and outdated. Youngsters of faculty going age make up the biggest public served by the Nationwide Museum via guided excursions. Other than college teams particular person kids go to the museum on daily basis. The museum displays are related to the varsity syllabi extra so in disciplines like Historical past, Social Research, Agricultural Science and Civics. Thus essay and poster competitions are run by the museum for youngsters. Since Artwork is probably the most pure technique of expression of people that cannot learn and write the displays within the Nationwide Museum are so organized that they’ll communicate for themselves. The museum is a crucial analysis heart. It’s analysis that brings the museum to life and makes it far more than a repository of lifeless objects. As analysis heart the Nationwide Museum is the one place within the nation the place somebody can discover such historic paperwork just like the Sierra Leone Constitution. Thus college students from each larger and tertiary establishments in addition to researchers (domestically and internationally) make in depth use of museum materials in writing their initiatives. A number of the subjects extensively researched on within the museum are the origins of St John’s Maroon Church, tourism as instrument of socioeconomic growth, conventional colleges in Sierra Leone throughout pre-colonial, colonial and up to date instances, interment rites of paramount chiefs amongst totally different ethnic teams within the nation, and mining in pre-colonial Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum shouldn’t be solely established for elites and the scholarly neighborhood but additionally to supply a service for most people. The fundamental objective of the museum is to allow the general public to know and admire underneath situations of show the artifacts which the establishment collects, preserves and protects. Entrance to the museum is free as a result of it isn’t solely a nationwide museum but additionally a part of a world settlement (Worldwide Council of Museum) to which the Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum is a signatory ought to. Sierra Leoneans are conscious of the truth that the Nationwide Museum varieties an integral a part of the native tradition. The specimens of the cultures represented within the museum are at the moment in use and individuals are aware of their existence and capabilities. The museum although nationwide additionally pursuits non-national public composed principally of European, American and Asian nationals, most of those are blind to African tradition generally and Sierra Leonean tradition particularly. Paradoxically the museum has touched each an knowledgeable and fairly largely illiterate in addition to educated and completely uninitiated publics. The next are just a few remarks from the Museum’s Guests E-book:
• It’s spectacular, stick with it! (A Nigerian).
• We entered into African mysteries (An Italian).
• Very attention-grabbing! Very painful particularly the slaves (An American).
• Most and the perfect expertise in Native Historical past).
• It goes a good distance in preserving our cultural heritage (A Sierra Leonean).
The Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum is an exhibition and communication heart. It gives contact with actual objects. It disseminates details about Sierra Leonean Artwork. Artwork items are themselves paperwork that are eloquent. From naturalistic figures held within the museum folks can study in regards to the gown of the time. A sculptured piece reveals slightly greater than the individual portrayed. For example a carved warrior or hunter within the museum exhibits the kind of weapon used on the time. The museum steers away from ethnic distribution within the nation of its objects. It goals at representing fairly than stating native peculiarities. For instance Rhythmic Arts (musical devices), Occupations (fishing gear, basketry and pottery), cultural objects (insignia of Chiefs and bride cash), and Ladies’s Actions (ornaments, combs and cooking utensils)) are portrayed within the museum. The reason is that each city and rural guests are anxious to see their methods of life mirrored within the “Ancestral Dwelling,” which is the museum. As native guests go around the museum they search attentively for utensils, instruments, weapons or acquainted faces and are often delighted or typically criticism to workers when these are absent. In short the Museum performs a vital half at nationwide and worldwide ranges. It helps the general public to understand articles illustrating historical past. As repository of the nationwide heritage it helps folks to search out the weather of their previous and to amass new non secular wealth. The Museum renews in Sierra Leoneans a way of belonging to a very civilization and stimulates in them the spirit of nationwide pleasure and cohesion that are important elements in nation constructing.
MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS
The Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum is a member of a number of skilled our bodies each at dwelling and abroad. It has been a member of the Worldwide Council of Museums (ICOM) since 1964. The Museum can be a member of the Group for Museums, Monuments and Websites in Africa (OMMSA), the cultural arm of the then Group of African Unity (OAU), at the moment African Union(AU ). The Museum is represented within the Arts Training Affiliation of Sierra Leone, which up to now organized Artwork Festivals in colleges and schools; additionally it is represented within the Public Archives Fee and the Sierra Leone Affiliation of Librarians, Archivists and Info Professionals(SLAALIP).
The Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum continues to take pleasure in cordial relationship with UNESCO which has assisted in workers coaching and provide of apparatus; the West African Museums Program in Dakar(WAMP),which has performed a number of workshops on conservation and preservation of artifacts. Overseas Missions too have contributed immensely to the event of the museum. For instance the Federal Republic of Germany in Sierra Leone erected an extension of the museum as a bicentenary reward. The French Embassy in Sierra Leone via the French Cooperation Technical Division rehabilitated the Previous Cotton Tree Museum Constructing. America of America, via the Division of the USA Info Companies has on a number of events invited the curator to go to the USA which has resulted to shut hyperlinks with the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, the Museum of African Artwork in Washington, Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Museum of Up to date Artwork in Chicago. The U S Embassy was additionally instrumental within the twinning relationship with the Museum of Coastal Historical past, St. Simons Island, Georgia. By way of these hyperlinks the Museum was provided with the outcomes of Indiana-American analysis initiatives, pamphlets, calendars of coming occasions, posters and future exhibitions. The twinning with the Museum of Coastal Historical past, St Simons Island, Georgia, USA has led to the investigation of the “Trans-Atlantic Linkage-the Sierra Leone and the Gullah/Geechee Connection.” There was a sequence of trade visits between curators and the Nice Spring Lecture was delivered at Fort Frederica, St Simon Island in 1995. In the identical yr a joint exhibition and a symposium was held on the “Trans-Atlantic Linkage” in Georgia.
CHALLENGES
One of many main considerations of the Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum is easy methods to fight the theft and illicit exportation of cultural artifacts. The Authorities of Sierra Leone has formulated a complete nationwide coverage with statutes as contained within the Monuments and Relics Ordinance of 1947. The Ordinance gives for the preservation of historic, historic and pure monuments, relics and different objects of historic, ethnographical and scientific curiosity. Any one that wishes to export from the nation any ethnographical merchandise should submit it to the Nationwide Museum; a license will likely be issued which needs to be proven to customs officers on the level of departure. If an meant merchandise for exportation has cultural, historic or archaeological worth it is going to be retained within the nation as a part of the nationwide heritage. Anybody discovered violating any of the laws is liable to prison prosecution underneath the supply of the Ordinance. If discovered responsible the individual involved should pay a advantageous of 2 hundred kilos sterling. In default of fee, the individual will serve a jail sentence not exceeding six months. Nevertheless, despite the efforts made by the Museum to guard cultural property smuggling of artifacts continues. It’s disturbing to notice that in Sierra Leone educated and clever individuals buy, promote and export protected cultural supplies only for the sake of enterprise promotion. What’s extra Sierra Leone has porous borders which individuals use to benefit in smuggling cultural supplies in a foreign country with impunity.
Additional the general public service that the Nationwide Museum performs warrants public expenditure, particularly if requirements are to be maintained. Sadly authorities grants to the museum are meagre and this poses one other problem for the operating of the museum. Typically salaries paid to workers should not solely discouraging usually however delayed in fee. In 2014 for example a lot wage backlog was owed workers that workers struck and the museum ceased to function for some time. In addition to the Nationwide Museum doesn’t have branches within the provinces however solely centered within the capital metropolis, Freetown. Workers are restricted in quantity and ill-motivated. Hardly are they engaged in capability constructing on account of lack of funds. This has led to huge workers turn-over. Extra over working within the museum shouldn’t be properly regarded nation-wide. Most individuals view it as a job for varsity drop outs. Thus younger folks don’t like pursuing museology as a profession. Additionally workers don’t embark on huge public training on the significance of the museum in society. Little marvel why college going kids kind the biggest variety of guests to the museum versus authorities functionaries and key stake holders within the nation. Even the road ministry, the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, the Museum is underneath doesn’t appear to know its significance in nation constructing. The Ministry priorities its actions and supporting the museum shouldn’t be a precedence. Thus in time of financial stringency the museum is a inclined space to swindle funds (Sierra Leone Nationwide Museum Prospectus, 2013). If subsequently authorities desires the Nationwide Museum to proceed enjoying an ever rising function in nationwide growth there may be each want for presidency functionaries to provide second thought on how greatest they’ll help it to fulfill this aim. The place the challenges confronted by administration are addressed the museum too might help generate the a lot wanted international trade along with its preservation of the nationwide heritage.