Bangladesh National Committee of International Council of Museums (ICOM) organised a seminar titled 'Learning in Museums' on February 1 at 11pm at Bangladesh National Museum (BNM) in the city.
At the seminar, Faizul Latif Choudhury, director general of Bangladesh National Museum was present as chief guest. Jahangir Hussain, chairmen of ICOM- Bangladesh National Committee presided over the programme.
Serajul Islam; auditorium manager of Department of Public Education, Bangladesh National Museum, read out a paper at the programme. Mofidul Haque, trustee of Liberation War Museum; Professor Sufi Mostafizur Rahmna, secretary of Bangladesh National Committee of International Council of Museums; were present as discussants.
ICOM is an umbrella organisation of museums and museum professionals with a global scope, committed to the promotion and protection of natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible. A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.
This truly optimistic theme in the form of an equation dynamically gathers several concepts that are essential to define what a museum is today, highlighting the universal nature of those institutions and their positive influence on society. It summarises the complexities of museum tasks and recalls that they are meant to contribute to community development.
The sharing of information, which eliminates geographic constraints, favours new interpretations and new ways of cooperating between institutions; it is a tendency towards the elaboration of a perfectible collective memory, maintained by museum professionals and researchers. The internet is becoming our future memory, a place where the distinction between the centre and the periphery is becoming increasingly blurred.