Princess Pilolevu opens National Museum [1]
Friday, October 30, 2020 - 19:19
Princess Pilolevu Tuita opened the Tonga National Museum on the first floor of the Queen Salote Memorial Hall on October 30.
Artifacts from Tonga’s archives as well as feature works of both past and present Tongan artists are on display.
The Princess Pilolevu spoke of the importance to establish a national museum.
The museum was initially a venture that commenced in 1998.
“Sadly, the Tonga National Museum was not maintained due to funding challenges and some of its collection of artifacts can now be found at the Tupou College Museum.”
“However, today, I’m extremely delighted to be involved in the revival of the Tonga National Museum.”
She extended her heartfelt commendations to the Prime Minister and his cabinet and ministers “for ensuring that preserving the heritage of Tonga is a pivotal factor in preserving the unique social fabric of what makes us Tongans”.
“As we’ve seen in many other countries, museums have played an integral role in preserving the history of society.”
She said exhibits tell us stories about how our nations, communities, and cultures came to be. Without them, those stories could be forgotten.”
“Museums acquire, preserve, research, interpret, and exhibit the tangible and intangible. Evidence of our society and nature. They collect and preserve our objects and materials of religious, cultural and historical value and can be a storehouse of old artifacts, sculptures, objects, traditional attire for our current and future generation to understand their cultural identity and heritage.”
The National Museum was previously located at the Tonga National Centre at Tofoa and was funded by the Government of Japan. it was closed for some time.
The first displays were set up with the help of Dr Adrianne L. Kaepler, the Curator of Oceanic Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution Washington DC.
The museum was re-established by the Culture and Heritage Division of the Ministry of Tourism.
The revival project started in 2017 with the support of Kolokesa Mahina (Tuai of the Auckland Museum) and Master Carvers Tui’one Pulotu and Steven Fehoko and others.