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Former name | Palau Museum |
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| Established | 1955 |
| Location | Koror, Palau |
| Coordinates | 7°20′11″N134°28′34″E / 7.33639°N 134.47611°E |
| Type | National museum |
| Director | Olympia E. Morei-Remengesau |
| Website | belaunationalmuseum.pw |
The Belau National Museum (BNM), previously Palau Museum, is a museum in Koror, Palau. It is the oldest continuously run museum in Micronesia.
The museum was established in 1955. [1] It is the oldest continually running museum in Micronesia; initially called Palau Museu, it later changed its name. [2] The original founders included Palauans Indalecio Rudimch, Francisco Morei, Alphonso Oiterong and anthropologist Francis M Mahoney. [2] Originally located in the former Japanese Administration Weather Bureau, the museum was later relocated to a new building, which was funded by the Government of the Republic of China. [3] From 1955 until its location move in 1970, the museum was run by a Museum Committee. [1] In 1970 the museum was relocated to a two-storey building in Palau Botanical Garden. [1]
In 1973 the museum's administrative structure changed to a non-profit organisation governed by a board of trustees. [1]
The museum has two exhibition spaces, an air-conditioned photographic archive, offices and shop. [1] As of 2006, the first floor exhibition space displayed Palau's traditional culture and arts, including bead money ( udoud ) and the house-buying ceremony known as ocheraol. [4]
In the wider museum compound is a library of over 5000 books relating to the history and culture of Palau. [5] There is also a statute of Harruo Remeliik, the first president of Palau. [4]
The museum exhibits artefacts from all aspects of the local life of Palauan people, such as artworks, photography, sculptures etc. [6] However, according to Philip Dark, due to a lack of security in the museum, by 1988 several important objects had been stolen. [1]
In 1988 the collection consisted of over 1,000 objects relating to the historical, anthropological and biological histories of the country. [1] There are several hundred images in the photographic collection, many of which are from periods of Japanese and German colonial occupation. [5] This archive was an important aspect of a research project undertaken in the mid-2000s to document life under Japanese colonial rule. [7] In 2003 the media collection underwent a digitisation programme, funded by a U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant. [8]
The museum has also been active in recording Palau's intangible cultural heritage, including taro production. [9] As part of the museum's acquisition process, makers of works that are being accessioned into the collection are interviewed and the process of making is recorded. [10]
In 2017 the museum's natural science department led a survey of bird life at the world heritage site of the Rock Islands' southern lagoon. [11] The same year the museum signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Museum (Prague) to deepen scientific relations between the countries. [12]
In 1969 a traditional village meeting house known as a bai, was constructed in order to showcase and preserve traditional building styles and skills. However it burnt down on 13 October 1979. [1] In the early 1990s the bai was rebuilt using traditional methods and is a key feature of the museum today. [4]
Due to legacies of colonialism, important aspects of Palauan heritage are held in collections overseas. These include; recordings of traditional music held at the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv, [13] chiefly costume held at Glasgow Museums, [14] pandanus fibre mats from Sonsorol at National Museums Scotland. [15] They also include Palauan material from the eighteenth century held in the British Museum: an inlaid, bird-shaped wooden bowl, an oil painting and an inlaid canoe, amongst others. [16] [17]
In 2005 digital assets of field recordings made in Palau in the 1960s were repatriated to the museum. [18]
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Polynesia to the east, and Melanesia to the south—as well as with the wider community of Austronesian peoples.
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific. The republic consists of approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caroline Islands with parts of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Angaur, or Ngeaur in Palauan, is an island and state in the island nation of Palau.
The music of Palau finds its heritage in Micronesia, but it has been supplemented with influences from the United States and Western Europe, as well as Japan.
The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan.
Modekngei, or Ngara Modekngei, is a monotheistic religious movement founded around 1915 by Tamadad, a native of the island of Babeldaob, that spread throughout Palau. It rose to political significance between the First and Second World Wars and is currently professed by 5.7% of Palau's population. Modekngei is a hybrid of ancient Palauan customs and Christianity. Followers of the religion believe in the Christian God, recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and simultaneously make appeasements to the traditional Palauan deities.
Dilukai are wooden figures of young women carved over the doorways of chiefs' houses (bai) in the Palauan archipelago. They are typically shown with legs splayed, revealing a large, black, triangular pubic area with the hands resting on the thighs. These female figures protect the villagers' health and crops and ward off evil spirits. They were traditionally carved by ritual specialists according to strict rules, which, if broken, would result in the deaths of the carver and the chief. Female figures presenting their vulva can be found in many cultures: they symbolize fertility, (spiritual) rebirth, and they protect from evil.
Roman Tmetuchl was a Palauan political leader and businessman. He grew up in Japanese-controlled Palau and joined the Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police, during World War II. After the war, he became the leader of Palau's Liberal Party. He worked in the Congress of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1964 to 1978 and advocated for Palau gaining a separate status from the rest of Micronesia. He became governor of Airai and engaged in three unsuccessful Palauan presidential campaigns. As a businessman, Tmetuchl led several construction projects for his business holdings and for the Palauan community, including the Palau International Airport and a Seventh-Day Adventist clinic.
There is a small Japanese community in the Pacific Island country of Palau, which mainly consists of Japanese expatriates residing in Palau over a long-term basis. A few Japanese expatriates started to reside in Palau after it gained independence in 1994, and established long-term businesses in the country. Japanese settlement in Palau dates back to the early 19th century, although large scale Japanese migration to Palau did not occur until the 1920s, when Palau came under Japanese rule and administered as part of the South Seas Mandate. Japanese settlers took on leading administrative roles in the Japanese colonial government, and developed Palau's economy. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, virtually all of the Japanese population was repatriated back to Japan, although people of mixed Japanese-Palauan descent were allowed to remain behind. People of Japanese-Palauan descent constitute a large minority of Palau's population as a result of substantial intermarriage between the Japanese settlers and Palauans. They generally identify with, conforming to cultural norms and daily lives with the Palauans.
Chinese have been settling in Palau in small numbers since the 19th century. The early settlers consisted of traders and labourers, and often intermarried with Palauan women. Their offspring quickly assimilated with the local populace and generally identify themselves as Palauan. In recent years, Palau has seen a growing expatriate business community from Taiwan, after Palau established formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1999.
The sport of baseball is widely played in Palau, having been introduced by the Japanese during their occupation of the island nation. The highest level of league play in Palau in represented by Palau Major League (PML), which is overseen by the Belau Baseball Federation. The country is represented in international play by the Palau national baseball team.
Women in Palau, known also as Palauan women, Belauan women, Pelew women, or Women of Los Palaos Islands are women who live in or are from Palau. Historically, there was a strong "gendered division of labor" between women and men of Palau.
Oceanian culture encompasses the collective and diverse customs and traditions of art, architecture, music, literature, lifestyle, philosophy, politics and religion that have been practiced and maintained by the many ethnic groups of the geographical region of Oceania since prehistory. Cultures of Oceania reflect not only that of the region's indigenous peoples, but also the cultures brought by European colonisation and the United States, particularly through mass culture such as cinema and TV. Oceania is commonly divided into four geographic sub-regions, characterized by shared cultural, religious, linguistic, and ethnic traits: Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Most Oceanian countries are multi-party representative parliamentary democracies, and tourism is a large source of income for the Pacific Islands nations.
Katharine Kesolei was an anthropologist and Senator from Palau.
Mirair Gabriela Ngirmang was a Palauan peace and anti-nuclear activist.
Toluk is a type of valuable traditionally used as currency among the women of Palau.
Yap Living History Museum is a museum in Colonia, Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia. It is a living history museum which is dedicated to Yapese culture.
Kosrae State Museum is a museum in Tofol in Kosrae State in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Faustina K. Rehuher-Marugg is a Palauan curator and politician who served as the State Minister of Palau from 2017 to 2021. She was Director of Belau National Museum from 1979 to 2009.
Olympia E. Morei-Remengesau is a curator from Palau, who was appointed Director of Belau National Museum in 2009. Born in Koror State, she began work at the museum as an administrator, before moving to the role of Assistant to the Director. She is co-vice chair of the Kraemer Ethnography Translation Project, which translated the works of Augustin Krämer from German to Palauan, and was funded by the German government. She is also the National Representative for the Federation of International Dance Festivals (FIDAF). In 2019 she secured a $10,000 donation from Taiwan to fund a new exhibition to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Palau's independence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the museum, enabling it to continue its community work despite being forced to lay off several members of staff.
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