Most items of the museum exibition were donated by local
residents | The Museum of Free Derry
events with a more international flavour and also to reinforce the human element of the story, giving
events looking at wider civil and human rights identities back to people who had become mere
issues. The new building also has an archive and statistics in many histories of the conflict.
research area so we can make our collection more
widely accessible, and much improved reception and All these elements together – the story, the
visitor service spaces. The building is enveloped in a artefacts, the staff and the site – make a visit to our
stunning public artwork, which shows a soundscape museum a very emotional and moving experience.
of the moment on the Bloody Sunday march when Visitors don’t just get information on what happened
the crowd was singing ‘We shall Overcome.” here; they get a true feel for what happened, why it
happened, and how it affected our community. They
The new museum hosts almost 40,000 visitors every get an understanding of how these events shaped
year, all here to be educated about our story. We the years of violent conflict that followed. They get a
take a very clear stance on how we tell this story feeling for the full impact of these events.
– it is our story, the story of our people and our
community, and it is told unashamedly from that And in our experience, with over a quarter of a
perspective. million visitors to date, that is what they want.
The museum is on the site where many of the key So how do we reconcile the fact that what we set up,
events of the story occurred, including Bloody with clear educational and conflict resolution aims,
Sunday. The story is told to visitors by people has now become a must-see destination for visitors
who were directly involved in and affected by this to this city? With the fact that the majority of our
history. The artefacts on display in the museum visitors would be classed as tourists? That we have
reinforce this, with many personal artefacts chosen an educational aim, but rely on a tourist income,
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Observing Memories
ISSUE 3