Belize’s museum finally underway
It’s been promised in every party’s manifesto as far back as anyone can remember, but as the new millennium dawned there was still no place in Belize that could even remotely be called a national museum. That situation, however, may be changing.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
In early January this year, the Belize and Mexican governments signed a 10 million dollar agreement aimed at the restoration and renovation of four buildings. One of them is the Old Prison on Gaol Lane in Belize City, which will be turned into a museum. Coordinator of Museums Lita Krohn, says the Belizean people can expect that this project will bring out tangible benefits for the community at large.
Lita Krohn, Coordinator of Museums
“We have had I don’t know how many museum committees. This time, I don’t want to put my mouth on anything, but I think we actually have a building already and this is one part of the whole project. The project is four parts, the prison, this old prison, the Bliss Institute, Government house and a building already constructed, the storage house. This culture project is a general project to enhance and refit and restore these places. We are not reinventing the wheel.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now for all intents and purposes, the cynical Belizean out there might be thinking, we’ve heard this before. What do you say to them as far as: yes, you can expect a museum of your own in the near future?”
Lita Krohn
“Because I know work is going on. We’re not going out there seeking funding, those basic things have already been addressed. This government’s policy is focused on culture. It’s focused on our history and it’s very serious about these things. And I’ll put my head in the noose over that.”
And while this building will soon be housing important pieces of history, Krohn says the building itself is part of the story.
Lita Krohn
“At this site, our new prison in 1854 was constructed. It was constructed to house 85 prisoners but every year, from even way back then, they had to build new cells for prisoners. The bricks come from, it’s called London Stock Brick, that’s the kind of brick that it is. And now we have Hattieville Prison and we’re using this prison to house the Museum of Belize with the first floor for a Mayan exhibit, which will be a permanent exhibit and the 2nd floor will be a temporary exhibit and we hope to start off with an African exhibit on loan from Mexico.”
Julius Espat of Strukture Architects has been charged with the painstaking challenge of getting this building in order. His workers will begin bridging the gap between past and present, brick by brick.
At present most of Belize’s history remains written in books or gathering dust in underground vaults. For the present, if you want to get a good glimpse of the region’s ancient Maya civilization the museum in Chetumal is a first rate facility.
