A gala was organized in the courtyard of the National Museum, which is lodged at the old presidency building in Yaounde, on Friday 16 January 2015, as part of activities to officially launch and re-open the museum to the public.

January 16, 2015 will mark the definitive reopening of the National Museum after more than five years of renovation work. Could we know the changes that have been made there?

We started this opening on 6 November, 2014, a historic date, the date on which the Head of State rose to the supreme magistracy of this nation. January 16 will be a continuation and the final phase of this opening. We have placed the event under his high patronage.

It was in 2009 that the ministry of arts and culture began renovation works on this building which is the former Presidency of the Republic, and before then the residence of the Governor. The piping, the plumbing, the cabling, etc. were rehabilitated. Thereafter, we tried to do a maximum preservation of the building as it is. We had wanted to preserve the parts inside as they were, such as the ceramics which is of very high quality. The ceramic parts being extremely expensive, since it is a former Presidency, were replaced with other tiles, while waiting to have more means in order to focus on this these ceramics.

We equally rehabilitated the ceilings with wood and all what constituted the artisan works such as the iron doors on which we put golden covers. It is a job that takes so much time. That is the entire process. With regards to electricity, we installed other cables, for we had to install the sound system amongst others. We then moved to the very conception of expositions. We needed to have a Museum policy and do a business plan, because the museum has to be profitable. All the projects of the Museum were written out. It was the last phase.

Now that it is like new, how will its maintenance be financed?

The goal of the gala evening on Friday 16 January is to conscientise people who can help us in the maintenance and continuity of the museum, such as patrons and sponsors. The Museum being a long-lasting platform, we have decided to think farther than usual. What can the Museum bring to the citizens? What can it offer them? It can offer them space where well-to-do citizens can contribute. That is what we call philanthropy. In return, we can make sure that their names remain engraved in the National Museum.

We also thought that we can come up with different contribution packages. At their level, the population has to contribute. Entry is not free. The open-door days were a wink to the Head of State. But by the time we introduce the heritage days, we are going to have in the course of the year, a period when we will have the possibility of visiting the Museum without paying a fee. We have a price scale that is competitive enough.

Don’t you fear that the institution of gate fees will turn away some visitors?

Elsewhere, there are strategic plans to commercialize museums. Note that one does not preserve what one does not pay for. One should be a citizen, one should be in the sphere of influence to make a contribution for these values to stay so that those who come after us can continue to benefit from it. It is in the logic of working in the long term that we have come up with a number of prices.

The Museum is an industry which employs youths. The latter have to be trained. This environment has to be taken care of. Everyone is happy when the Museum is beautiful, but we also have to be happy to pay. Everybody who enters this Museum will have contributed for their fellow Cameroonians and for others. This is how care for the place can be ensured. The state is already doing much, and with the different contributions, we will in future put in place other structures such as castles, natural architecture which will be outside. We have a program of evening tales. All this can help generate resources to make the Museum evolve.

How do you get the different artifacts that are displayed in the Museum?

Whenever there are excavations, the law permits scientists and archeologists to have access to the subsoil because every civilization, everything that happens over time can be buried there. Specialists are in the field, and when they identify a number of objects, they carry out research, they bury them. All this was done by Cameroonian archeologists with the assistance, sometimes, of some foreigners.

After these burials, there is dating which is a scientific technique. This dating is the reconstruction and constitution of the history of this environment which is done by all these ethnologists, archeologists and scientists. And after this dating, the historical record is complete.

It is a long process. We have to conscientise the big companies which come to our country to construct roads, pipelines, etc. Let me seize this opportunity to talk of collaboration with the World Bank which provided all the finances for the scientific process which permitted the dating of the artifacts.

What criteria are used to qualify an artifact for display in the Museum?

We have a Museum policy to which the chosen works respond. We first of all thought of valorizing the history of our country. The exposition of archival photos contribute to this…We cannot easily find a book in the market which talks of 50 years of our history. We have created a mail box through which many people send us photos which have to be validated by a scientific committee, and thereafter we will be able to display them.

To stay in the idea of promoting history, we present, for instance, the constitution which we are trying to put in a much more luxurious form. It is these craftsmen who are doing it. It takes time and it has a cost. There is also the map, strong symbols, etc.

We find very little traces of President Ahidjo here. Why?

For decency and respect, because we are Africans. All the same, we have conserved the office of President Ahidjo after the approval of the Head of State who knows this place better than anyone else. This office has to be reconstituted. I must say with regret that everything had been ransacked when I came here. What we have as chairs or tables are what we picked up in the corridor and conserved here. This office has to be put in place again. We have all the elements of this office in photos, and we shall ask for the support of the state, for us to visit this space. We have thought of it.

What promotion activities are you making to attract visitors?

We have started with open-door days which will become institutional. During these open-door days, we had 6,000 visitors, which shows the interest of citizens in the Museum. We will put other products in place like the audiovisual museum, exposition of architecture, tales, amongst others. For this to happen, we have to invest, which is why we have this gala. Do we have the culture of going to museums? There is a problem of adaptation, of conscientization. The construction of a museum is done with time, and the problem is that we are always so much in a haste.