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| Sunday, 23 January 2005 |
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Maritime museum damaged by tsunami by Lakmal Welabada Caught up in the destruction of the tsunami was the Maritime Museum in Galle which suffered partial damage to property and irreparable damage to 75 per cent of valuable artefacts. "The waves had entered the museum breaking down the front entrance. As the museum adjoins the Galle Fort wall, which was strong enough to withstand the force of the waves, nothing was washed away. Instead all the objects that were on display were seen floating in the water and remained inside the building," says Mayuri Munasinghe, Assistant Director (Botany) National Museum Department. "The Maritime Museum displayed dioramas (life size models) of fishermen and whales made out of plaster of paris. All that including specimens, replicas of boats, the shell and coral collection, fishing tools, the marine flora and fauna classification (fish and whales, marine reptiles, marine birds etc) were heavily damaged and dirtied with mud and salt water. The Museum floor was covered with 5 - 6 inches layer of mud," she explains. Navigation equipment including those of the Portuguese period such as compasses, anchors, bottle type water containers, the control panel of the first war ship of the Sri Lanka Navy and many water crafts which were proportionately made to depict the high technological knowledge of the ancient Sri Lankans were also among the items damaged and destroyed by the tsunami. A. P. Gunasekara, Secretary to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage says that the Marine Archaeological Lab which was situated at the edge of the Galle port was also among the items destroyed. This Lab was maintained by the Central Cultural Fund and displayed many navigation objects, collected from the wreckage of Portuguese, Dutch and other ancient ships by a special diving team attached to it. "Not even 10 per cent of the items were saved. All were washed away. It is a big loss as it will take a long time for us to re-collect all those historical valuables. We fear we won't find any of them at all," doubts Gunasekara. The Hikkaduwa Cultural Centre was also among cultural sites damaged by the tsunami. But, miraculously saved was the Trinco Museum. Gunasekara says the Cultural Affairs Ministry along with the National Archives Department hopes to launch a project to restore valuable documents ruined by the salt and mud water. "Documents such as 'Puskola' books belonging to the Buddhist temples and personal documents like birth certificates will also be restored under this project. Through the Central Cultural Fund, we also hope to help the Buddhist temples and churches to restore the sculptures and mural arts that were ruined by the disaster," he says. According to Gunasekara, the Ministry plans to build a Tsunami Museum. "The location of this museum has not been decided yet. Most probably it will be built at Thelwatta where the Colombo-Matara train was derailed," he says out. Mayuri Munasinghe says, the proposed tsunami museum will be similar to the museum built in commemoration of Hiroshima atom-bomb attack in Japan. "We hope to keep one of the compartments of the train along with a portion of the distorted track (which would display how the train was caught in the tsunami) and build the museum around it. However along with the pictures of disaster, the tsunami museum will also convey the message of quick recovery and re-building efforts. Officials of the Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Ministry and the National Museum Department urges the public to hand over to the closest museum or government cultural centre any artefacts they discover during the clean up. |
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