Faced with alarming and extended closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s museums are of “fundamental importance” to reviving cultural life and preserving our shared heritage “in all its diversity”, said the UN cultural agency chief on Tuesday.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, museums have not been spared, the UN cultural agency said on Monday, International Museum Day, revealing that nearly 90 per cent of the treasured cultural institutions have had to close their doors, while almost 13 per cent are under serious threat of never reopening.
War museums will “continue to predominate” but peace museums can “give daylight” to stories that are often hidden, an expert on genocide says.
Dr Joyce Apsel is the President of the Institute for the Study of Genocide as well as a Clinical Professor at New York University and the International Network of Museums for Peace representative to the United Nations.
