Observing Memories Issue 3 | Page 104

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, 102 Observing Memories ISSUE 3