Paired with the creation of the National Library and Timor-Leste Archive, the Secretariat of State for Culture is developing, in partnership with UNESCO, the construction project of the Timor-Leste Museum and Cultural Centre. “We thought that we should take advantage of this construction phase and plan this project now”, explains Virgílio Smith.

The existence of appropriate sites for the development of cultural activities is fundamental to drive culture and consequently contribute to the assertion of national identity . In this way, the Secretariat of State for Culture intends to drive and promote new events in a dignified space with the necessary conditions to “place Culture at the service of the Nation and Timorese State’s self-assertion”, which is one of the priorities defined by the IV Constitutional Government in its programme for the 2007-2012 legislative period.

There are already some contents to exhibit permanently in the National Museum, such as the geologic collection exhibit in the Presidential Palace, with around 800 items, which is kept in the Ministry of Education. “There are patrimonial collections of high value that left Timor-Leste, but when we have a structure like de Museum and Cultural Centre, the collections can return to the country”, states the Secretary of State, adding others potentialities of the future institution: “it is a form of tourist attraction, a space for fun but also for research. A research space, not only for Timorese but also for foreigners, that can now have a proper place, in Timor-Leste, to do their studies. The Museum will be a space for inspiration”.

The project still predicts that the Museum and Cultural Centre shelter the future Art and Music Schools, where the respective viability studies were predicted in the IV Constitutional Government’s program. Just as the National Library and the Archive, the Timor-Leste Museum and the Cultural Centre should be located in Aitarak Laran, Díli.

 

*This photo was taken from the site of the Secretariat of State for Culture