BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- The Bardo National Museum has received a generous donation from a 3D photo lab in Algiers, courtesy of the Embassy of the United States of America in Algeria and the non-governmental organization “Alliance-Patrimoine”. This donation will facilitate the creation of a digital database aimed at preserving the national museum’s heritage.
The photo laboratory will digitize the museum’s works of art to create a global database that can be used in the event of risks, and to know and locate the types of museums. The laboratory was received in the presence of the Minister’s representative of Culture and the Arts, Naouel Dahmani, the director of prospective studies at the ministry, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad, the United States Ambassador to Algeria, Elizabeth Moore Aubin, and representatives of the NGO “Alliance-Patrimoine” and the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation.
In a speech read on her behalf by the director of prospective studies at the ministry, the Minister of Culture and the Arts, Soraya Mouloudji, underlined the great interest shown by Algeria in the development of the protection of its cultural property through the mobilization of all means at the level of museums, parks, and archaeological sites.
The minister indicated that the inauguration of the laboratory is part of the implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed between Algeria and the United States on August 15, 2019, in Washington, relating to the restriction of the import of certain intellectual property provided for under the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting the Illegal Import, Export, and Transfer of Intellectual Property.
Twenty curators from five national museums, along with researchers from the National Center for Prehistoric, Anthropological, and Historical Research on Risk Management and Digitization of Mobile Assets, have received extensive training in this context, according to reliable sources.
The American ambassador, Ms. Aubin, stated that the objective of this project is to make heritage registers accessible beyond Algeria. Therefore, it is essential to utilize expert training from the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation and the United States.
The director of the Bardo National Museum, Mr. Zoheir Harichane, expressed his gratitude for the donation, which marked the end of the applied training session on digitization in the museum field (May 21-June 1). The training was granted to 21 apprentices, including museum curators and art restorers, from various museums in the country.
The training, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Arts, was attended by museum and heritage specialists from the Arab Republic of Egypt, who presented works and made applications on a collection of remains from the Bardo Museum. This training allowed for the exchange of experiences and provided a general idea of the protection of Algerian heritage, which is considered world heritage that must be preserved using new methods, as explained by Mr. Harichane.
The laboratory will be supervised by specialized Algerian directors who have received specific training and will be assisted at the technical level, for one year by the Antiquities Coalition. The executive director of the Coalition for Antiquities, Peter Herdrich, emphasized that Algerian cultural heritage is a valuable resource for the nation and the world that must be preserved and protected.
In conclusion, this project is a significant step towards preserving and protecting Algerian cultural heritage. The training provided to museum and heritage specialists will undoubtedly contribute to the development of new methods for the protection of world heritage.