Africa-Press – Angola. The Regional Museum of Dundo, in Lunda Norte province, received, this Sunday, a photographic and bibliographic collection that portrays the history and culture of the Tchokwe people.
The estate was offered by a couple, children of former workers of the former diamond company “DIAMANG”.
In a ceremony witnessed by the governor of the province of Lunda Norte, Deolinda Satula Vilarinho, the museum management also received a pen drive containing films and/or recordings of Tchokwe folklore, captured at large parties in the 70s and 80s.
On the occasion, the director of the museum, Ilunga André, made it known that the books and photographs will be placed in the library and photo gallery, to allow young people, researchers and academics to have access to the contents.
On the other hand, he informed that the Museum’s management, in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, is working with interpol, aiming at recovering the pieces that had been stolen during the armed conflict.
Without disclosing numbers, he made it known that some had already been rescued, but interpol demands that security and storage conditions for the parts be created first so that they arrive in Angola without being diverted again.
He said that the Ministry of Culture and the local government are making efforts to ensure safety and storage conditions at the Dundo Museum.
In 2019, eight pieces that had been stolen from the collection of the Dundo Regional Museum, in the nineties, during the armed conflict, and clandestinely taken abroad, were returned to the museum institution.
The pieces recovered by the Sindika Dokolo Foundation include an armchair belonging to the chief Lunda Cokwe, an adorned pipe, a solid wood mask and a small circular bench.
“Bal-Bal” recovery
The official informed that the Government is making efforts in the sense of recovering the archaeological site of Dundo “Bala-Bala”, adding that important steps have already been taken for this to become effective.
According to the person in charge, it is only waiting for the contracting of the company that will be responsible for the recovery and/or rehabilitation of the station.
He made it known that an inventory of the archaeological pieces of the station is being carried out, with the support of the National Archeology Museum.
The museum
The museum, located in the “heart” of the ancient city of Dundo and with more than 100 years of existence, helps society to identify historical events that were decisive and essential for the construction of the Lunda “Empire”.
To help preserve memories and, at the same time, explain them to those interested, the institution has a collection full of articles and ethnographic, biological, archaeological, sacred and popular art collections and some objects that relate to the history of Industrial Revolution, such as the exploitation of diamonds.
The ethnographic collections of the Dundo Museum constitute the main component of the institution’s corporate purpose and result from the first campaign to collect pieces, called the Camaxilo expedition, made in the distant year of 1937, and the Alto Zambeze, in 1939.
The Dundo Museum has 9,000 ethnographic pieces and plans, soon, to collect others that are in the possession of people linked to art and collection holders.
Among the cultural articles on display, the statuette of Samanhonga (Thinker) stands out – which has become a national symbol -, the Mwana Phowo masks (depicts female beauty), Mukishi wa Mwanangana (king’s clown) – which corresponds to the sacred sacrifice and represents the tribal chief’s ancestors – as well as the musical instruments: Ngoma (drums or drums) and puita.
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