It’s been closed for nearly three years but on Saturday,
November 1, the Pompey Museum will reopen with an exhibition called “Wade in
the Water.”
Pompey Museum was first established in 1992 at Venue House-
the oldest building in the heart of Nassau.
From then, it was seen as a national treasure as it housed
many historical pieces from the time of slavery and emancipation in The
Bahamas.
In the 20th century, it also housed the telephone and
electricity departments.
In the early morning hours of December 2, 2011, a raging
fire destroyed the historical mecca for the second time in its history.
Now that it’s reopened, Chief Curator at the Antiquities,
Monuments and Museums Kim Outten Stubbs is encouraging Bahamians to come and
enjoy it.
“Please come out and help us celebrate our heritage and
culture – this very important milestone for us and for the country. This site
is so important to our heritage and culture. It is the oldest building in the
town of Nassau from which most of our ancestors were sold or passed through and
we simply cannot allow it to deteriorate and I am so very pleased we were able
to restore it,” she said.
“It’s a different kind of exhibition this year. It was designed
by John Beetle and the graphics were designed by Ambrose Fernander and they
have done a fantastic job of capturing the aspect of slavery generally. There
was a specific story about the Peter Murrell- a slave ship that wrecked in the
Abacos in 1860 and that story is told in the exhibit as well.”
Mrs. Outten Stubbs noted that there were artifacts that were
salvaged from the fire and there will be more.
“One of the things that we want to do is encourage persons
who may have pieces related to slavery to make an arrangement with us so they
could become part of the collection,” she said.
Project Architect at the Pompey Museum Alicia Oxley said the
Ministry of Works partnered with Antiquities, Monuments and Museums.
“We were able to do a design that bought it back to its
original design while upgrading it. We added a wooden floor. We have a steel
column that carries a concrete floor. These were some of the challenges we’ve
had in making decisions as to how we would overcome or how we would restore the
building,” she said.
“We would hope we got it right after two fires because now
we have built according to code of museums around the world.”
The museum will open to the public on
Saturday 1stNovember from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and on Sunday,November 2nd from noon to 4:00 p.m.
There will be no admission fee for the
two days of Open House.
A donation box will be on available
for persons who may wish to contribute to the museum.
On Monday November 3rd, 2014 the museum will begin regular
public hours from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and
Saturday, and Thursdays 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Admission Fees: Non-Resident Adult $5.00; Resident Adult
$3.00.
All children
ages 12 – 6 are $2.00, age 5 and under are free.
