Jade Head display on Museum’s 10th Anniversary
Shari Williams
The Museum of Belize is observing its tenth anniversary. Home to historical pieces of the Belizean Culture and an attraction for tourists, the museum is celebrating with ten days of entertaining and educational activities. Shari Williams, Communications Officer for the National Institute of Culture and History, says the celebrations will kick off on Sunday and culminate with the highlight… the Jade Head Display.
Shari Williams, Communications Officer, NICH
“Well, this year actually, Sunday February the fifth will mark the tenth anniversary of the Museum of Belize and of course we felt that this was a milestone. The Museum of Belize since opening its doors approximately sees about fifteen thousand visitors yearly and so we felt that it was important to celebrate this tenth anniversary with the people of Belize. So we decided to do ten days of activities starting Sunday February the fifth. We are having a fun. We’re inviting parents to bring in the children; to join the staff to sing happy birthday, cut the cake, Ozzie the Clown—so it’s going to be like a children’s party but in grand fashion. Free tours for the kids. So bring the kids over. It begins at ten a.m. till five p.m. in the evening all day long—free everything. On Monday, we are going to have a storytelling session with Miss Myrna Manzanarez sharing Creole stories. On Tuesday we are bringing in former superintendent Bernard Adolphus to share what prison life was like. On Wednesday we have under the Ya’axche Tree, a book presentation by David Ruiz. Thursday, museum membership drive. We are inviting people to become a member of the museum. There is a lot of wonderful things when you become a member of the museum: behind the scene tours, invitation to members only events and stuff like that. On Friday, a walk down memory lane; we’re bringing in the seenagers from HelpAge Belize to reminisce about what life was like in Belize back in the day. On Saturday; one of the things we are launching on February fifth is every single Saturday starting February fifth, Belizeans can enter the museum for free. So we are encouraging more Belizeans. Every year, thousands of visitors come from abroad to visit the museum and our museum is right here and we are not using it as much as we should. So we are inviting people, Belizeans to come in for a tour; bring your kids, bring the family. On Monday and Tuesday we are having children’s art workshop and the big day of course is on Wednesday the fifteenth. That’s the last day of the ten days of activities and we are bringing out the Jade. The jade has not been on display since 2009. Of course when we bring out the Jade Head we have to have maximum security; a lot of details, a lot of planning. So for that one day only, we are going to have the Jade Head on exhibit.”
Schools are invited to call the Museum of Belize to schedule a time for viewing the Jade Head.
