I90 Raoúl González Guzmán

Raúl González Guzmán

4J MUSEO NACIONAL DE PANAMA, Panama. Room displaying archaeological finds from the west of the Isthmus. In the foreground, the ceremonial table of Barriles (300 B.C. to A.D. ZOO).

Panama, which has a population of some 1.5 million, has only three museums. The largest and most important of these, the National Museum, is located in the capital. The other two, situated in the province of Los Santos, are the Belisario Porras Museum in Las Tablas, a historical museum, and the Manuel

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F. Zárate Folk Museum in Guararé. The Directorate of the Historical Heritage of the National Institute of

Culture and Sport, to which the museums are responsible, has plans to establish further museums throughout the country.

A brief glance at the history of the ational Museum will show how the museum has developed as an institution in Panama. Panama acceded to inde- pendence in 1703. The National Convention, which met in 1704, earmarked funds for the construction of the National Museum as part of a vast public- works programe.

In 1906, the Secretariat of Public Education and Justice commissioned Dr H. D. Lupi, an Ecuadorian national, to establish natural-science collections to serve as the nucleus for the future museum’s collections. The museum was opened on 3 November 1706 with an exhibition of Panama’s natural products and artefacts, under the direction of the Venezuelan scientist Dr R. T. Marquis.

From the very outset, the museum had difficulties chiefly due to lack $f space, as the building intended for it was never built. As a result, it was housed in three small rooms in a higher educational establishment. Nevertheless, it already comprised four sections: mineralogy, archaeology, history and local industries and arts.

The following year, the museum was raised to the status of an Institute of Secondary Education and in 1710, following the creation of the National Institute of Panama, it came under this institute’s control. It continued to

Museums in Latin America : Panama

operate primarily as an educational institution, but lack of space and of funds, and the termination of the director’s contract, forced it, to all intents and purposes, out of existence.

In 1927, it was re-established by order of a government which was conscious of the importance and value of the national historical heritage and wished to strengthen national self-awareness. Nevertheless, it still failed to receive the oficial aid it so badly needed.

In 1969 it was transferred to a graceful mansion in the Barrio de la Exposi- ción, where it operates at present. It is a favourable location, since most of the country’s schools are also situated in the area, with the result that it has become a valuable educational extension service; drawing and natural-science classes are given in the museum with the aim of encouraging the setting up of school museums.

During this period, the museum’s collections have been greatly enlarged thanks to generous donations by private individuals and to the efforts of the Sociedad de Amigos del Museo. After forty-four years as director of the Natio- nal Museum, Dr Alejandro Méndes has been succeeded by the distinguished anthropologist Dr Reina Torres de Araús.

As part of the government’s policy of improving established bodies and institutions and of seeking solutions to national problems, a National Institute of Culture and Sport has been set up, one of its departments being a Directorate of the National Historical Heritage, and it is the Museums Department within this directorate which controls the State museums. In addition to the Museums Department, this directorate includes a Department of Scientific Research, responsible for anthropological, archaeological, historical, ethnohistorical and linguistic research.

This department makes a specific contribution to museum work. It is at present engaged in the diversification of museums; one of its projects is to set up a National Museum of Anthropology and a Museum of the Republic; it is also planned to establish historical museums in Panama La Vieja and in Portobelo, and a Casa de la Tradición in the colonial building in which the proclamation known as the Primer Grito de Indepeadetzcia was signed in I 82 I. The Museums Department is providing valuable technical assistance to various school museums; it is undertaking the establishment of a general inventory of the nation’s cultural heritage.

The round table held in Santiago (Chile) coincided with the launching by the Panamanian Government in 1968 of a policy aimed at remodelling and overhauling the old system. This policy, which is nationalist in its objectives, reflects the profound crisis through which mankind is passing. The nation as a whole is endeavouring to find, by various means, a sense of its own nation- hood, and it is now understood that a nation’s sense of identity is rooted in the legacy of past generations. At the same time, a sense of confidence in the future must be fostered among the population, based on the ideals of self- determination and the right to exploit for themselves their own natural resources and to forniulate their own national policies.

As cultural institutions, museums in Panama have not remained unaffected by the era of radical change which is approaching. Their primary activity has been to foster spiritual values among the school population. As a result of this, visits to these institutions have increased.

We are now waiting for national development plans to be adopted, so as to be able to prepare future plans and help to create an awareness in the popula- tion of the nation’s problems.

From this brief account we have seen how the National Museum passed through a long period of inactivity and how now, in this eighth decade of the twentieth century, it is preparing to play the active role in national develop- ment plans required of it by the far-reaching economic, social and cultural changes which lie ahead.

46 MUSEO DE ARTE RELIGIOSO COLONIAL, Panama. Chapel of Santo Domingo where the museum will be installed. Installation work.

[Tramlated from Spanisll]