…National Museum can’t expand, engineers in search of other venue

THE relocation of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology from its existing location on Main Street in the capital may have hit a snag as government contractors have advised that extension of the Guyana National Museum on North Road is “impossible,” due to the presence of several trees there.Reports are that another location in the city is being sought and government officials along with staff of the Walter Roth Museum visited the top floor of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) on Tuesday to assess that venue. This was however, refused by the anthropology museum’s administration who were a part of the visiting team and further relocation plans are now being discussed.
Efforts to reach Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, yesterday were futile. Jennifer Wishart, a co-founder and former director of the Walter Roth Museum told this publication on Thursday that she was informed by staff of the museum on Main Street that the contractors from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure along with other ministry officials visited the National Museum to decipher the scope of works which will have to be undertaken to extend and build a state-of-the art facility there. She said that the contractor informed the officials that the presence of the trees at the space outside the museum, mainly their roots, would pose a long-term problem if the building is expanded. “The contractor said trees make it impossible for extension so they left “, Wishart said.
She said the officials then visited the nearby GPOC‘s top floor to assess that location but staff of the Walter Roth Museum were not in agreement with that venue as proposed. As such further discussions, she said will be made on the relocation of the anthropology institution. “The post office is too dirty for a museum “, she said.
Wishart, who has appealed to the government to reconsider the relocation of the museum, said to be the oldest of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean, noted that a number of archaeologists are travelling to Guyana and will have a first-hand look at the relocation of the museum. These include artist and archaeologist George Simon, whom she said contributed over the years invaluably to the development of the archaeology and arts field here. Government announced the relocation of the Walter Roth Museum on August 11 with space to house government offices as well as access to the current location of the museum being considered.
President David Granger noted earlier this week that the proposed relocation of the Walter Roth Museum was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. “This is not a whimsical move; it is because there are organisational changes,” he told reporters on Monday when braced on the subject following a function at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre at Liliendaal.
Besides noting that every precaution will be taken to avoid any damage to those collections currently housed at the Museum, the president said it’s all in keeping with plans by the government to relocate the institution to the west wing of the Guyana National Museum. “It’s not tumbling out; it’s an improvement,” he said, adding that if the move could have been avoided, such would have been the case. The Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology was established in 1974, but was not opened to the public until 1982. The museum was founded with the collections of Guyanese archaeologist Dr Denis Williams. In 1980, the ethnographic collections of Dr Walter Roth, J.J. Quelch and Sir Everardim Thurn were transferred to the Walter Roth Museum from the Guyana National Museum.