National Museum attracts 20pc fewer visitors
The number of the visitors to Bangladesh National Museum dropped by 18 per cent in the last three years.
The museum attracted 1,40,528 fewer visitors in 2018-19 than in 2016-17, according to official statistics.
The museum recorded 7,70,558 entries in 2016-17, 7,60,556 in 2017-18 and 6,30,030 in 2018-19, according to the statistics.
Improper curating and cataloguing of national artefacts with little understanding of archaeological significance was the cause behind the shrinking number of the visitors, said several experts.
They also blamed the decline in the standard of education and the museum’s replacement of national artefacts with foreign pastiches for people’s decreasing interests to visit the museum.
Museum director general Reaz Ahmed, however, held poor road communication responsible for the drop in the number of visitors.
He said, ‘The disruption in the road communication due to the ongoing construction work of the metro rail is the cause behind the decreasing number of the visitors.’
Professor Sufi Mostafizur Rahman of Jahangirnagar University’s archaeology department said that the museum failed to curate national artefacts in line with their archaeological and historical significance.’
He said, ‘The museum’s curating team lacked archaeologists and museum experts, and the museum also poorly coordinated with the government’s Department of Archaeology, and the Ministry of Culture.’
The museum also failed to collect and showcase recent archaeological findings in its gallery, he added.
Professor Swadhin Sen of the same department said, ‘The British colonialists established the museum in 1913 and since they left in 1947, the colonial structure of the administration overlooking the museum did not change much.’
‘A rigid bureaucracy left by the colonists overlooks the museum, and their treatment of visitors is unfriendly, unwelcoming and undemocratic,’ he said.
The museum’s former keeper Niru Shamsun Nahar said, ‘The museum failed to develop properly-guided tours, catering to tourists’ interests and the guides are not properly trained as they are unwelcoming to visitors.’
She lamented that the museum was losing its national character as it had also replaced earthen pottery galleries showcasing national artefacts with the glass galleries with no historical or archaeological significance.
‘The National Museum should display the artefacts that celebrate our nation and showcase our historical past,’ she added.
The director general said that the museum would plan to shift the office from the museum building to expand the space and to add more historical items to attract the audience.
Ahmed Sharif, a visitor, complained that the galleries inside the museum did not look clean and also the walls had stains that disappointed him.
The director general said, ‘We try to clean the museum once in every two or three weeks, and with our available workforce, it’s not possible do the work every week.’
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