Interest in national monuments on the rise

INTEREST in museums and monuments site is rising, with over 70% locals visiting the sites for pleasure or using them for key lifetime events such as weddings and other private functions, national museums’ northern region director, Godhi Bvocho has said.

Bvocho told NewsDay last week ahead of commemorations of the International Museum Day held under the theme Museums and Contested Histories: Saying the Unspeakable in Museums on Friday that such sites were inspirational to many people.

“People should make use of our museums, as they are integral in the day-to-day human life as they preserve identity covering a broad spectrum of the past, present and future,” he said.

“We want people to be motivated to visit the museums and get inspired by the achievements of our ancestors in all sectors.”
 
Bvocho said Zimbabwe was one of the countries that treat the International Museum Day commemorations seriously, as evidenced by the schools’ national heritage quiz competition they host.

“International Museum Day provides an opportunity to raise awareness on the importance of museums in the sustainable development of society,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage minister, Abednico Ncube told NewsDay on the sidelines of the national Culture Week launch on Saturday that the country’s museums and monuments were in a good state.

“The state of our museums and monuments is good, but we still have some challenges. We have some bodies that were left in other countries like London, Zambia and Mozambique during the liberation struggle. It is our wish to bring their remains back home because they are our heroes and this is their home,” he said.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO