St. Maarten National Heritage Museum is inviting the general public to come out for an informative and fun day with the entire family, as it celebrates International Museum Day today, Saturday, May 18. Activities will take place from 9:00am to 12 noon.
Come out and explore traditions of the past, and participate in interactive cultural activities. There will be tours of the museum, and informative presentations such as the making of coconut oil, the making of cassava bread, and plaiting the maypole.
For the kids, there will be a variety of activities, such as hand-games, musical games and games with marbles. Locally made traditional toys will also be presented.
St. Maarten National Heritage Museum, sometimes overlooked in the day-to-day hustle and bustle in Philipsburg, is full of thoughtfully curated historic gems such as artefacts and photos.
How well do you know your country’s history and culture? This is a great opportunity to discover the museum, or to re-acquaint yourself with it. First timers may be surprised at the glimpses of history that are available.
If you’ve been there before but have not seen the museum since Hurricane Irma, expect to see a more spacious layout upstairs. The walls and roof had caved in, but after reconstruction, the upstairs section now has a more open layout, and the previously lower style of ceiling was not reinstalled. The biggest loss incurred, in terms of content, was to the historical library. However, most other artefacts were salvageable.
This year’s theme for International Museum Day is “Museums as Cultural Hubs: The Future of Tradition”. The same theme will be tackled at the 25th International Council of Museums (ICOM) General Conference taking place in Kyoto, Japan, in September.
ICOM established International Museum Day in 1977 to increase public awareness of the role of museums in the development of society, and it has been steadily gaining momentum ever since. In 2018, International Museum Day garnered record-breaking participation with more than 40,000 museums hosting events in some 152 countries.
The 2019 theme acknowledges, “While preserving their primary missions – collecting, conservation, communication, research, exhibition – museums have transformed their practices to remain closer to the communities they serve.” ~ICOM.
“As museums increasingly grow into their roles as cultural hubs, they are also finding new ways to honour their collections, their histories and their legacies, creating traditions that will have new meaning for future generations and relevance for an increasingly diverse contemporary audience at a global level.”
ICOM strongly encourages all of the world's museums – whether large or small, urban or rural, or dedicated to the arts or sciences – to join in celebrating the complex link between future and tradition. Don’t miss out on celebrating this relationship at our local museum.
St. Maarten National Heritage Museum is located at Front Street # 7, Philipsburg (Speetjens alley, near the Coffee Lounge). For more information, contact the office of the National Heritage Museum at 542-4917.
