Mohamed ,biz Lahbabi

The museum and the protection of the cultural heritage of the Maghreb

The aim of this article is not to say anything new of archaeological or historical interest but merely to present a few thoughts which have been prompted by the concepts ‘museum’, ‘protection’ and ‘cultural heritage’, with particular reference to North Africa.

The Arabic word for museum is matha$ Etymologically, this means a place where tahaf (beautiful, rare, precious objects) are assembled (the verbs tahafa, to beautify, and athafa, to make a gift, come from the same root).

In Fez, the cultural capital of Morocco, the national museum is called DHr Aslãh (the armoury). Similarly, in the famous capital of southern Morocco, Marrakesh, the former name of the museum also had a martial ring: Dar al- Barüd (the house of gunpowder), and it was here that were kept the ancient rifles and guns acquired by Morocco from the sixteenth century right up to the beginning of the twentieth.

Does the true role of the museum consist in collecting together and displaying tahaf and weapons?

To answer this question, certain concepts must be more precisely defined. First of all, is museology a science or an art?

What is museology?

In order for it to be possible to concede the title of science to museology, its subject-matter must first of all be circumscribed and the criteria governing the choice of its functions and activities must be standardized. One of these functions would seem to be that of enabling the museum to provide a living testimony to national history through the ages. This history would epitomize the nation’s dreams, hopes, reverses and aspirations as they are embodied in the vestiges of the past and the achievements of the present. I t is thus the museumJs task to offer both to the eye and to the mind a concrete and scientific representation of national culture. It is a medium of cultural information which rescues from oblivion and safeguards the foundations of a nation’s culture, but without detracting from their authenticity as other media such as the press and cinema are liable to do-for it lets the objects speak for themselves.

By means of the objects which it exhibits, the museum presents an over-all view of the Werent stages in the evolution of a people’s thinking and achieve- ments so as to evoke memories and create a new awareness of the past.

The history of mankind begins the moment that man makes his presence felt on the earth. This he does at two levels: he transforms nature so as to

9 Volubilis, general view. To visit and appreciate this renowned Roman city one has to have not only the means to get there but also a relatively advanced level of knowledge. It is significant that to this day the people of the region call the ancient city the ‘Palace of the Pharaoh‘, the term ‘Roman’ (rozmzk) meaning ‘foreigner’ in general. It is the duty of museologists and guides to counter such errors and better inform the public.

146 Mohamed Aaia Eahbabi

impress upon it an artificial and human character and he reorganizes the cultural resdts obtained so that they may serve for the purpose of observation and comunication. It is at the second level that museology begins as a science of the ‘re-presentation’ of the national past in the individual and collective consciousness.

On the other hand, owing to the fact that it continually brings the genera- tions face to face with other and in the process engages several of man’s senses, museology might be considered an ‘art’: it teaches man to see, hear and communicate with objects and to appreciate their vital qualities. It has a formative effect on the development of the aesthetic sense and it takes beauty as a point of reference.

This being SO, museology would appear to be a ‘scientific art’ in the service of culture and, in so far as its purpose is to set standards, it seeks to provide a condensed representation of the past and to make us ask: ‘This is what ou; ancestors did-what are we capable of achieving in our turn? contribution be?’

One of the fmctions of the museum is to throw out this challenge and obtain our emotional involvement: everyone feels that his roots go back to a particular past, a particular region, that he is linked to a given c o m ~ v , heir to a specific cultural heritage.

Culture may be defined as all of man’s acquisitions in the scientific, technical and artistic fields by means of which he takes over &e raw m a t e d of nature, transforms it and uses it for his own purposes. Thus, the invention of the ploughshare, whose importance for man’s evolution was greater than that of the Pyramids, the P O ~ C U ~ OP the Coliseum, forms part of the cultural heritage of mankind. Human c d m e is the o d y culture there is and each national cultme is an expression of man9s presence in a specific natural enviroment and his response to that environment. It is an expression of that patrimony within us which is part of our daily fives. It is the function of museums-and in this particular case North African museums-to be the living memory of the people and for the people.

This being so, the museum should contain not only paintings, sculptures, weapons and ornaments, but dso everything that binds man to this native soil and to his ancestors.

A majof part of the North African d t u r d heritage has come down to us by way of oral tradition. Music, song md poetq, for instmce, are to a great extent anonymous and are passed on in oral form during family or seasonal celebrationso It would be desirable for a university research centre to be set upg which, with the help of the regional museums, would be responsible for all oral arts and oral fiterature. A healthy and militant North African culture cannot be envisaged unless the ground work is laid in this way. The utmost efforts must be made to prevail QVCX the general indXerence towards museums, for if museums do not ‘appeal’ to the masses, it is because they have not yet found a form which is in line with-people’s tastes and temperament.

Museologists will have to develop their social and educational knowledge in order to draw certain conclusions from the situation.

The man of the Maghreb belongs to an agricultural, earthbound culture and every fibre of his being connects h h to the soil, to the jagged contours and echoing spaces of the mountains. Striding through the desert, he is in his element. Por him, everything that has rhythm and appeals to his sensibility forms part of his Ccu1mre9, i.e. his life. However, mbseums seem to set a barrier between Me and culture, appearing as places of contemplative silence. In North African museums, as things stand at present, a culture which enjoys G%&l a p l p ~ o ~ ~ l - a n a ~ r ~ s r t i ~ e - (bkcaüce- it is hErmetic nfi&above the-general- level) tends to coexist with a cdture which belongs more or less to the people. This coexktence is peaceful and neutral and there is neither complementariity nor interaction bemeen the culmes.

By and large, in the Arab world, people are more receptive to gesture and

IO TETUAN MUSEUM, Tetuan. Reconstruction of the Iiving-room in a traditional house.

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148 Mohamed Aaia Lahbgbi

expression than to the manufactured objecte A page of calligraphy is more appreciated than the h e gilt binding of a book; writing possesses a mysterious and holy quality; the arabesque is not merely an ornamental art but a con- tinuously moving gesture. The musicality and rhythm of a poem are a source of greater delight than the actual content of the verses. Our museums, how- ever, rarely exhibit manuscripts and are not provided with auditoria. They excel in creating an impression of immobility. A furt-her remark needs to be made here: monuments are restored, chased

c~pper, plaster casts and wood carvings are placed on display, but nothing is shown to illustrate the history of the many varieties of tents which have, after all, played an essential role in the lives of nomads and semi-nomads, Arabs and Berbers.

Perhaps one day soon the prevailing conception of museums and their functions will be reconsidered in all its aspects and precise criteria laid down for choosing between that which is doomed to vanish and that which is destined to g b on Eving or to be brought back to life.

We now come to the problem of who benefits from the museum as a national and cultural hstiktion.

In the Arab world o d y the big cities, and not all of them, possess musems. .

In addition, in the capital cities, ody 'educate# initiates who are able to pay the admission go to museums. Although entrance to many museums is free, this has, mfortuhately, also proved io be an inadequate allurement as €ar as the general public is concerned, and in actual fact, going to museums remains a privilege of the most cultivated chss.

The musems of North Africa were established during the colonial era for the benefit of foreign tourists. One 0f the results 0f .this is that the m u s e u guides are written in French (poor French at that) and not in the national

e, Arabic. This creates yet another barrier between the museum and the native public who rarely visit musems. The statistics dearly show this since they reveal that the number of museum visitors is in direct proportion to the number of tourists visiting the region. The off-season for tourists is &e 0Z-seãion Töf E i i s e G i . It is tlierEfore nekëssary fog the functiõns-of "kology to be redefined, particularly in North Africa, where museums have been designed and run by foreign research workers concerned primarily with ethnography and ethology, with no thought at all €or the education of the people or for the future. Out of an alleged respect for tradition, the tendency

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The museum and the protection of thecultural heritage of the Maghreb ‘ I49

was to see the indigenous culture in terms of fixed tastes and structures, forms devoid of living substance. The structures of a vanished past cannot, however, help to overcome underdevelopment. Colonial domination took objectivity away from science and dispossessed the people of its authenticity.

In order for the countries of the Arab world and the Third World ’in general to regain their national identities, their cultures must be safeguarded. The museum may be instrumental in this respect if it avoids inspiring such baneful feelings as chauvinism or claims to any form of ethnic superiority. What is needed is to open men’s minds to universal values and to learn from the humanists who urge us to love man through his works with a love based on esteem.

The new approach to the museum would be based first of all on a recognition of the continuity of that part of a people’s activity which consists in invention and creation and consequently on the possibility of approaching the present through the past and seeing continuity in discontinuity. This will help to integrate different regional or national values into the universal heritage.

The museum, as an objective eye-witness of a continuity which advances spasmodically through-and in spite of-time, should be able to affirm and confirm progress.

Until such time as the museum manages to reflect the progress of continuity (and the continuify of progress), its existence will not be justified; it will remain no more than a simple math& an armoury, and the objects which it contains will remain mere museum pieces.

Does not the problem of the environment and of pollution-the negative aspect of progress-relate to that of the protection of the ‘cultural’ heritage (culture being nature reshaped by human labour)? The answer is obvious. People should therefore be educated, from the time they go to school, to love nature, to appreciate the open spaces and the Mediterranean light. In a world of concrete and steel, they must learn to value a tree in blossom and a free- flowing brook anew, so that poetry enters into life and leads the struggle against ugliness and the dangers besetting mankind. Otherwise, no one will be capable of responding to the call of the wind and waves or of living close to the soil, man’s natural environment.

Cleansing the earth and protecting it means, ultimately, cleansing men’s hearts and bringing men and nations closer together. In its own way, town planning, too, brings forth monsters.

MUSEE AL-BATHA, Fez. (a) Interior courtyard; (b) exhibition of armoury.

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150 Mohamed Azis Lahbabi

Ida), (b) CRAFTS MUSEUM, Moroccan crafts.

Rabat: Exhibitioi n of

Another aspect of the new approach to museums in North Africa would be to organize museums not far from schools and in the country-side in particular, since between 70 and 75 per cent of the population inhabit rural areas. A culture is not protected when it is put in a glass case, between four walls. It is protected when it is allowed to breathe. A cultural heritage is hale and hearty when those to whom it belongs take an interest in it. It then serves to promote awareness, particularly among the young, of the possibilities and prospects open to them.

There is already talk of specialized museums. In view of the situation described above, we consider specialisation ill-fitted to our present require- ments. For the Arab world, which is still developing, museums should initially offer the greatest possible diversity. The history of science can easily be com- bined with> for instance, the history of dechnology and the evolution of handi- crafts.

Moreover, the conception of the non-specialized museum needs to be revised: how can the habitants of the big cities of the Maghreb be drawn to museums where they will find Little more than carpets, earthenware pots, musical instm- ments and craft items, in other words, things such as they are surrounded by in ThZr daily EViS? Renie ihe need tci make Öf th; dnuseüm SÕmZihi-ng more than simply a place for storing the products of craft activities.

It is worth while pointing out here how valuable it would be if the works and archives now in the possession of European museums could be returned.

Lastly, it would be desirable for museums in the ‘Third World countries to

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be presented in the form of a ‘spectacley, thereby fulfilling their dual function as places of instruction and entertainment.

What should these ‘spectaclesy teach in those Third World countries which are gravely beset by cultural underdevelopment and material hardship?

First of all, it should teach that nature in its raw state should not be regarded as sovereign and that man’s initiatives and prerogatives in the universe should be safeguarded. Next, it should teach us to note the successive advances made by our ancestors and to face up to the mysteries of nature without retreating into myths and shrinking from the unknown. The Third World man will then shoulder his responsibility for continuing the history of the community and will become aware of his at once glorious and fkightening human condition.

Thus reconsidered and redefined, the museum will become an institution for combating underdevelopment. Information, that human heritage which circulates and accumulates, changes attitudes and brings men nearer to each other.

Thus the dual role-national and international-of the museum takes shape, with all its implications for the human adventure and the protection of the cultural heritage in its infinite variety. Against such a background, prehistory,

archaeology and history in general will assume a ‘practical’ significance, capable of exerting an irresistible attraction for the Third World. The awe-inspiring goal which will loom before us will be the definite possibility of radically transforming mankind. A n immoderate ambition, but one commensurate with man’s capacities once he is bent on mastering and controlling his destiny on earth. Is not the earth itself being ever more searchingly investigated by man and more and more adapted to his needs and interests? Man’s vaulting ambition aims to do the impossible and nothing, in the long run, can withstand it.

Such is the faith to be instilled into the men of the Third World, who must still triumph over their complexes and their mythologies in order to be able, as members of the fraternity of man, to look the inhabitants of the other ‘Thirds’ of the world in the face. [Tradated from French]

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