The National Museum cannot be extended to house the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology and a proposal to use the top flat of the post office building has been found to be untenable, Director Jennifer Wishart said adding that she was informed that a search is now on for a new location.
Wishart told Stabroek News that last Tuesday she received a call to meet Junior Minister of Education Nicolette Henry to discuss a proposal to contract her services as a consultant for the museum’s transition.
She said Henry told her that the ministry would prepare a two-month contract for her if she accepted the proposal. She said she did not give an answer then as she wanted time to think about the overall contract and what it would mean for her and the museum.
However, Wishart added that when she got home she received a call from an official at the National Museum, who informed her that the very same morning Junior Minister of Public Infrastructure Annette Ferguson visited the building with a contractor from the ministry to check if the building had the capacity to accommodate the possible extension.
“… They said it was not possible to build there. Something to do with the roots of the trees,” she stated.
Wishart said staff at the Walter Roth Museum told her that they were then taken by a minister to see an area atop of the Guyana Post Office Corporation. “They refused and that is where we are right now,” she said.
The Director also took to social media to highlight her concerns. She wrote, “Following my meeting with the Minister yesterday who assured me that a state-of-art addition to the Guyana Museum is being constructed to house the Walter Roth Museum I have today been informed that on examination of the area by the Minister within the Ministry of [Public] Infrastructure and her contractors that this addition would be impossible.”
She added, “Senior staff of the Walter Roth Museum were taken to examine the top floor of the Guyana Post Office building for possible relocation. Thankfully they refused to accept that hideous place and are now looking for somewhere else. So, as far as I’m concerned the battle continues,” she added.
Wishart, in a letter to this newspaper last week, had indicated that the museum’s collections are very fragile. She noted that in 1980, when collections were moved from the National Museum to the Walter Roth museum there was considerable damage and loss of artifacts.
Wishart, a co-founder of the museum along with the late Denis Williams, also said that after the death of Williams, when the collections in his home were removed there was significant damage and some had to be dumped.
She pointed out that Guyana does not have the expertise required for the removal of such delicate and very ancient artifacts, some of which date back to some 7,200 years ago.
As for now, she waits. “I am awaiting to see what they will say to me. I am waiting to see if I will be called. They have not told me anything,” Wishart added.
On Monday, President David Granger said he was standing by government’s decision to relocate the Walter Roth Museum. He had said that the decision was not a “whimsical” one and he emphasised that all efforts would be taken to ensure that the collections are not damaged during the move to a location that will be brought to international standards.
“This is not a whimsical move, it is because there are organisational changes. We are setting up a Department of the Environment and certain changes are needed. So we have to find space and we have come to the conclusion that bringing those two museums together is going to improve access to the exhibits,” Granger said, when asked if his government would re-visit the decision.
The President announced that more than likely the Department of Protocol will be working in the building and therefore there would be no damage to the heritage or to the aesthetics of the building,
“We did not see it as a problem. We saw it as an improvement in providing access to the Walter Roth Museum. There is not going to be any damage or any diminution of the collections there,” he maintained.
The Ministry of the Presidency had announced last week that the museum would be moved to the National Museum and the current Main Street location would be used by the Ministry of the Presidency. It had also stated that the museum would be housed in the western-wing of the National Museum and work will be conducted to ensure that both facilities meet international standards.
