The long-running debate about whether there should be a museum about the Troubles in Northern Ireland may soon be resolved. A public consultation has been launched about what form a museum covering the conflict should take.
Healing Through Remembering (HTR), an independent, cross-community organisation, issued the call for ideas at the beginning of the summer and has organised a number of public workshops as part of the consultation.
A spokeswoman for HTR said that it wanted as broad a response as possible. 'It is an open call for ideas. We are asking what form the living memorial museum should take: should it be a building, or could it be a virtual museum?'
There has been an ongoing discussion about a museum or memorial to the Troubles since the Good Friday Agreement was brokered in 1998. HTR conducted a survey in 2002 and one of the five recommendations was for the creation of a museum.
Hugh Forrester, the museum manager at the Northern Ireland Police Museum in Belfast, said that his feeling was that it might not be a 'bricks and mortar museum'. 'I think it should draw on the strengths of established museums. It could be something looser and more federal, rather than a large edifice.' He added that the current review of public administration in Northern Ireland could result in a reduction in the number of museums and that a new build was unlikely in the present climate.
There is also the question of where a new museum could be sited. Forrester said that the problem was that if it was in a disputed area it would mean excluding one section of the community, and if it was in the 'leafy suburbs' it would rule out others.
An audit of collections is already underway as part of the HTR project. Kris Brown, a research fellow at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queens University, has been auditing public and private collections for objects relating to the Troubles since the beginning of the year.
He added that the response from museums had been extremely positive so far. 'Some of them have been going to great lengths to dig out material.' He said that he had discovered a lot of material that could be expected such as political posters, uniforms and militaria, but there had been some surprises too.
In the Heritage Tower in Derry he found footballs covered in sectarian graffiti and death threats that had been kicked over the peace line from the Catholic area to the Protestant side.
Brown said that one of the most interesting objects he has seen was a mortar bomb in the Northern Ireland Police Museum. The so-called 'barrack buster' had been fired at a police station in Newry in 1985, but had failed to go off. Brown said he was shocked by the size of it - nearly four feet long.
Brown said the best thing a new museum could achieve would be to ensure the conflict was never repeated. 'This is still a highly segregated society - it's like a form of voluntary apartheid - a museum could serve to educate people about the values and traditions of other communities.'
Chris Bailey, the director of the Northern Ireland Museums Council, welcomed the initiative and said that the council had been working closely with HTR. 'The concept is interesting and we will be offering advice and assistance to the project,' he added.
In a separate move, Sinn Fein has called for a £10m conflict resolution centre to be built on the former site of the Maze prison in County Antrim. The government's proposals for the site include a 'centre for conflict transformation'.
The closing date for the HTR consultation is 30 September.
www.healingthroughremembering.org/
Sharon Heal
Healing Through Remembering (HTR), an independent, cross-community organisation, issued the call for ideas at the beginning of the summer and has organised a number of public workshops as part of the consultation.
A spokeswoman for HTR said that it wanted as broad a response as possible. 'It is an open call for ideas. We are asking what form the living memorial museum should take: should it be a building, or could it be a virtual museum?'
There has been an ongoing discussion about a museum or memorial to the Troubles since the Good Friday Agreement was brokered in 1998. HTR conducted a survey in 2002 and one of the five recommendations was for the creation of a museum.
Hugh Forrester, the museum manager at the Northern Ireland Police Museum in Belfast, said that his feeling was that it might not be a 'bricks and mortar museum'. 'I think it should draw on the strengths of established museums. It could be something looser and more federal, rather than a large edifice.' He added that the current review of public administration in Northern Ireland could result in a reduction in the number of museums and that a new build was unlikely in the present climate.
There is also the question of where a new museum could be sited. Forrester said that the problem was that if it was in a disputed area it would mean excluding one section of the community, and if it was in the 'leafy suburbs' it would rule out others.
An audit of collections is already underway as part of the HTR project. Kris Brown, a research fellow at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queens University, has been auditing public and private collections for objects relating to the Troubles since the beginning of the year.
He added that the response from museums had been extremely positive so far. 'Some of them have been going to great lengths to dig out material.' He said that he had discovered a lot of material that could be expected such as political posters, uniforms and militaria, but there had been some surprises too.
In the Heritage Tower in Derry he found footballs covered in sectarian graffiti and death threats that had been kicked over the peace line from the Catholic area to the Protestant side.
Brown said that one of the most interesting objects he has seen was a mortar bomb in the Northern Ireland Police Museum. The so-called 'barrack buster' had been fired at a police station in Newry in 1985, but had failed to go off. Brown said he was shocked by the size of it - nearly four feet long.
Brown said the best thing a new museum could achieve would be to ensure the conflict was never repeated. 'This is still a highly segregated society - it's like a form of voluntary apartheid - a museum could serve to educate people about the values and traditions of other communities.'
Chris Bailey, the director of the Northern Ireland Museums Council, welcomed the initiative and said that the council had been working closely with HTR. 'The concept is interesting and we will be offering advice and assistance to the project,' he added.
In a separate move, Sinn Fein has called for a £10m conflict resolution centre to be built on the former site of the Maze prison in County Antrim. The government's proposals for the site include a 'centre for conflict transformation'.
The closing date for the HTR consultation is 30 September.
www.healingthroughremembering.org/
Sharon Heal
