21 March 2006
U.S. Program Saves Priceless Artifacts in Congo, Madagascar
Cultural Preservation Fund also builds partnerships in Kosovo, Turkmenistan
Washington -- It may not be an earth-shaking international political event, but the residents of Shaba province in southern Democratic Republic of Congo now can thank American partners for rescuing part of their cultural heritage from the ravages of nature.
In 2005, the Lubumbashi National Museum received a $21,000 grant to repair a leaky roof, courtesy of an innovative partnership program established by the State Department called the Ambassador's Cultural Preservation Fund.
The fund has been partnering with local cultural institutions, not just in Africa but worldwide, since its inception in 2001, funding 292 projects since then. In 2005, the fund awarded grants worth $2.5 million for 87 projects in 76 countries.
According to a document provided by the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, the ambassador's fund paid for roof repair on the main building of the Lubumbashi museum to stop valuable ethnographic, entomological and archeological collections from being damaged by torrential downpours that plague the region.
New metal doors and reinforced windows also were installed in the museum to ensure better security, and the building's walls were repainted.
The fund also paid to preserve the museum's collections of plants, animals, insects, ceramics, paintings and artworks made of wood, stone and hides, with the embassy reporting that they were being "treated and maintained with chemical products and insecticides to protect them from deterioration" for up to two years.
Using the embassy fund, the museum also acquired eight new display cases for its entomological exhibits. In addition, it purchased vacuum cleaners, thermometers and an air conditioner to guard the exhibits against excess heat and humidity. The museum also installed new curtains in the exhibition rooms to protect against the sun.
Two computers, a digital camera and a global positioning system (GPS) were also purchased with money from the embassy grant.
The computers will transfer information from fragile paper records of the collections into an electronic database and a Web site built to increase "research capacity," according to the embassy.
The cameras will be used to make photographs of exhibits for use in research and for display at scientific meetings. Archeologists will employ the GPS system to locate and fix archeological sites in difficult terrain.
FUND WILL SAVE HISTORIC DOORS IN MADAGASCAR
In Madagascar, the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation began a program to save historic carved wooden doors and windows found in Marovoay, Mahajanga and other areas in the northwest of the island nation.
According to a press release from the U.S. Embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar, U.S. officials are working with scholars at the University of Mahajanga, as well as with members of the Bohra community in the northwest, to preserve the intricate Indo-Arabian carved doors and windows, believed to date back to the 18th century.
The artworks are functional and represent Madagascar's role in "the vibrant Indian Ocean trade," the release said. They are also "visual reminders of the cultural exchanges among East Indians, Arabs and East Africans with the Malagasy people" 300 years ago, it added.
When the preservation project is completed in August, the embassy reports, "Mahajanga and Marovoay will have a new tourism jewel to share with the world. New historical walking tours, museum exhibits … and books will be in place so that all can share in this unique piece of Madagascar's cultural heritage."
SAVING MANUSCRIPTS IN KOSOVO, CARPETS IN TURKMENISTAN
Outside of Africa, the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation also is running successful partnership programs in Kosovo and Turkmenistan, according to the State Department Web site.
In Kosovo in July 2005, Philip Goldberg, chief of the U.S. Office in Pristina, awarded a grant to the Institute for the Preservation of Monuments in Prizren to help save deteriorating antique manuscripts in the library of the Gazi Mehmed Pasha Mosque.
In presenting the award, Goldberg said Prizren is a fitting location for cultural preservation because it is a "symbol of Kosovo's multi-ethnic and multireligious past and, we hope, a symbol of its multi-ethnic and multireligious future."
In 2004 the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation helped maintain a unique collection of carpets from the 17th and 18th centuries in Turkmenistan. The money helped the National Carpet Museum of Turkmenistan in Ashgabat save 30 carpets.
A spinoff from the program is a series of master classes by local weaving experts for specialists in preservation, conservation and restoration methods.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
