Africa-Press – Angola. After almost two years with closed doors, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the museums in the province of Luanda are back to life, with the highest number of visitors in recent months.
During a round, as part of the International Museums Day, which is celebrated this Thursday, Press visited some of these institutions, where it noted the influx of visitors, namely students, national and foreign tourists, who seek to understand more about the biodiversity, culture and history of Angola.
This date has been celebrated since May 18, 1977, at the proposal of ICOM – International Council of Museums, with the aim of promoting, within society, a reflection on the role of Museums in its development.
According to the head of the scientific research department at the Museum of Natural History, Ana Lavres, since the survey of biosecurity measures, the institution has returned to “Viver”, registering a daily average of 350 visitors among primary, secondary and higher education students, as well as natural persons.
With regard to the visit of international tourists, he underlined an average of 30 people per month.
To salute the date dedicated to museums, the institution prepared a lecture with the theme: “Food Anthropology”, aimed primarily at children, where the lecturer, Verónica Tchivela, addressed the anthropogenic impact, used to improve nutrition and food security , boost and promote the sustainable development of poor and dry regions.
At the National Museum of Anthropology, the head of the education and entertainment department, José Pedro, said that the number of visitors has been increasing since the end of restrictive measures.
At the moment, stresses the person in charge, the institution has a daily average of between 30 and 60 people.
However, José Pedro spoke of the need to increase the number of employees, as well as the improvement of infrastructure.
Currently, he said, the institution’s great challenge is digital innovation, to make it easier for people to access exhibitions and other services offered through a digital platform and social networks.
To welcome the date, José Pedro said that the museum is preparing an exhibition of objects and masks that portray the national culture.
At the Military History Museum, where we were not authorized to record an interview, there was an influx of students, national and foreign tourists, interested in learning more about Angolan history.
Information collected points to a monthly average of 300 people.
Most Visited Slavery Museum
Three thousand four hundred people visited the National Slavery Museum, from January to April this year, located in the district of Morro dos Veados, municipality of Belas, in Luanda.
Compared to the same period in the previous year, there was an increase of 110 visitors, said its general director, Vladimir Fortuna
He explained that the visitors are mostly students, while 12% are foreigners.
For access to the museum, he said, a fee of 180 kwanzas is charged for nationals and 350 for foreigners, with children under 12 years old, adults over 60 years old and former combatants being exempt from paying.
Founded on December 7, 1977, the museum, which portrays the history of slavery, has five rooms that address topics such as the relationship between slavery and religion, the crossing of the Atlantic, domestic slavery, plantation slavery, Afro culture -americana and the resistance against slavery.
According to Vladimir Fortuna, the most recent acquisition of the collection took place in 2014, on the occasion of the National Culture Festival, consisting of eight pieces formed by iron spheres, originating in the provinces of Cabinda and Mbanza Congo.
The existing collection in the museum, he continued, began to be collected in the colonial period at the Cabolombo archaeological station and during the campaigns carried out, after Independence, by the National Laboratory of Anthropology and the National Institute of Cultural Heritage.
The National Slavery Museum has ongoing research projects such as the identification of former colonial farms, where slavery was practiced, the identification of places of memory of the slave trade, among others.
In Angola, museums have been a reality for decades, in several provinces, particularly Luanda, which brings together five infrastructures, namely, the Museums of Military History, Currency, Natural History of Angola, Anthropology and Slavery , which are potential promoters of the dissemination of society’s collective memory.
Many of these infrastructures emerged in the colonial era and carry marks of the past that are transmitted from generation to generation and resist the metamorphosis of time.
These institutions play a key role in the process of educational policies, which respond to students’ needs and develop a motivating curriculum that engages students and encourages their curiosity, as well as the pleasure of learning.
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