National Museum of Eritrea

National Museum of Eritrea
Established 1992
Location Governor's Palace (until 1997),
Asmara, Eritrea

The National Museum of Eritrea is a national museum in Asmara, Eritrea. Established in 1992 by Woldeab Woldemariam, it was originally located in the former Governor's Palace until 1997, when it was moved.[1] The venue has since been relocated to the former Comboni Sisters School for Women.

The function of the National Museum of Eritrea is to promote Eritrean history, both within the country and abroad. It also aims to investigate new archaeological sites, and to explore the country's history. In 1996, Eritrea's central government nominated the following five sites to be considered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Adulis, Dahlak Kebir, Matara, Nakfa and Qohaito.

Background

Eritrea was part of Italian colonial Empire and later was part of Ethiopia. Ethiopia became independent in 1975 and The Eritrean Liberation Front fought against the Ethiopian and won independence in 1993.[2] All the artifacts which were originally present in Ethiopian National Museum were shifted to Ferdinando Martini Museum. After independence from Ethiopia, the contents were displayed in Governer's palace. During 1992, UNESCO funded the establishment of the National Museum of Eritrea, shifting all the artifacts to the new museum. They also trained the staff of preservation. The Museum is administered by the Ministry of Culture.[3]

Functions

The Museum was established in 1992 in the national capital of Asmara. It is located in the centre of the city. The museum stores historical artifacts of Eritrea, and exhibits collections of archeological related to the culture of Eritrea. It conducts archeological surveys and excavations. The museum also stores artifacts related to contemporary history of Eritrea.[4] Due to the exigencies of border war and the political instability, the museum was in a state of neglect as of 2010.[3] The Museum, like that of Ghana, is considered to have evolved with the aftermath of impending national independence movements. The contemporary collections have predominant collections of the freedom fighters of the nation and paintings depicting the struggle.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "National Museum of Eritrea". Retrieved 2006-09-10.
  2. ↑ "Elections in Eritrea". African Elections. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 Connell, Dan; Killion, Tom (2010). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810875050.
  4. ↑ Tesfagiorgis G., Mussie (2010). Eritrea. ABC-CLIO. p. 268. ISBN 9781598842319.
  5. ↑ Knell, Simon (2016). National Galleries. Routledge. p. 245. ISBN 9781317432425.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Museum of Eritrea.

Coordinates: 15°20′00″N 38°55′38″E / 15.33333°N 38.92722°E / 15.33333; 38.92722

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.