Hon. Tom Butime Minister for Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities has this morning officially launched the International Museum Day 2023.
Uganda will join the rest of the world to celebrate International Museum Day on 18th May 2023 under the theme; ‘Museums, Our heritage’.
This theme focuses on the dissemination of information on how our people can leverage heritage products for sustainable livelihoods.
Speaking at the Lunch held at Uganda Media Center, Minister Butime described the move as an opportunity to celebrate our heritage as the Pearl of Africa.
This year Gulu district in northern Uganda will host the International Museums Day celebrations with hashtags #IMD2023 #MuseumDay.
Its on record, Uganda was the first to develop Museums and Monuments or cultural heritage sites in East Africa. Currently, Uganda has the lowest number of museums and heritage sites developed compared to Kenya and Tanzania. Kenya has 8 regional museums and Tanzania has 10 regional museums, 8 cultural heritage sites listed on the World Heritage List whereas Uganda has only one developed National Museum and two regional museums which are not even developed to international standards. The only cultural site listed on the UNESCO World Heritage, the Kasubi Royal Tombs is also in danger because of the fire that gutted it down in March 2010. The six rock art heritage sites which have been developed in the last four years, only management plans and a dossier were completed and submitted for listing in the 2015 UNESCO session.
The celebrations this year is an opportunity for Uganda to push for proper development of the dozens of sites in the different parts of the country.
