Ethiopia is endowed with wide variety of tangible and intangible cultural heritages that have power of capturing the attention of mankind. Cultural institutions like museums, libraries and archives can hold vast amounts of information which traces back over centuries and reminds us our earliest ways of life. Those tangible and intangible cultural heritages were kept in a museum. Museum is a place in which cultural, religious and human made work of art were kept and has spread across the world sharing how humanity has survived in its environment over centuries. Ethiopia is home to diverse natural, human made and artificial resources.
The country is endowed with immense tangible and intangible resources which were registered by UNESCO. Museums found in Ethiopia that helps to exhibit those resources or heritages were not fully branded according to the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritages (ARCCH). Fanta Beyene Public Relation Director at the authority told The Ethiopian Herald that, compared to the resources that the country has the museums found across the country is not enough. The reason is that, the attention given for the sector before is not enough.
There were problems before in promoting the resource in coordinated ways. He added that, recently the government gives due attention for the sectors. Now the government and the authority itself is carrying out an activity of protecting the authority in their respective areas and giving awareness for the private sectors, individuals, societies in general and concerned stakeholders to protect heritages from damage.
All regions have their own museums but the quality and contents of the museums is not of good standard. Now to overcome the problems all regions are constructing additional and branded museums to accommodate all heritages in their respective regions that represent culture and traditions of their respective regions in particular and that of Ethiopia in general, Fanta noted. On the other hand in Ethiopia religious institutions contain ancient and manmade heritages that express the earliest Ethiopian culture.
These works of art must be protected and handed down to the next generation. In collaboration with religious institutions the government plans to construct museums in respective regions across the country to protect them properly. In addition it is easy to promote those heritages if museums were constructed in respective regions. The society must discharge their responsibility in protecting heritages for the coming generations, he pointed out.
Yacob Melaku, President of Tour Operators Association agrees that the museum across the country lack enough space to keep as much heritages as available in the country. The main thing here is not making money but promoting those heritages for the rest of the world. This will indirectly increase tourist flows towards the country he noted. Regarding societies awareness he said that, the concerned stakeholders were given awareness for the society to protect heritages properly.
Compared to the resources and tourist attractions in the country the number of museums in the country is not enough. The country has lots of natural, human made arts. The government must give due attention for the sector. It needs the participation or engagements of all sectors from individuals and the concerned stakeholders, Yacob noted. On the other hand the country is not fully utilizing its resources and commitment is needed.
It is better to support the activities with the support of technology to be addressed in all areas across the country and at the world level. In addition the government must adopt enough fund for the development of the sectors which helps to remove the barriers facing the sectors. Yacob explains that, museums are shelters for centuries old heritages that are of cultural, religious, political and historical importance. So it is better to turn museums to digitization to help them manage their collection and promote its value to visitors.
As to him the digital transformation can take many forms, from enabling museum visitors to use smartphones or tablets throughout the site to enhance their experience, to digitizing the collection and making it available online, to engaging with people before or after their visits via online channels. He further stated that, museums today need to create a sustainable future. This means taking care of their core assets and collections, but also ensuring the museum continues to be relevant and valuable to future generations.
Technology therefore has a vital role to play in reaching the connected consumer and researcher, Yacob noted. Ethiopia is a country blessed with a wide variety of tangible and intangible cultural heritages that have power of capturing the attention of mankind. Cultural institutions like museums, libraries and archives can hold vast amounts of information so effort must be exerted to make more cultural heritage data digitally available for everyone to access.
The Ethiopian Herald May 18/2019
BY HAILE DEMEKE
